Airline Workers Black Out Logos After Plane Accident

Thai Airways was trying to protect image, accomplished the opposite
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2013 1:31 PM CDT
Airline Workers Black Out Logos After Plane Accident
A Thai Airways passenger plane takes off over a damaged Thai Airways Airbus A330-300 at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013.   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

A Thai Airways plane skidded off the runway during landing last night, but you wouldn't know it was a Thai Airways plane from pictures taken after the accident. Airline workers painted over the logos on both the tail and body of the aircraft, a "crisis communication rule" supposedly recommended by Star Alliance, a global airline network to which Thai Airways belongs. But the alliance denies that claim to CNN, and Thai Airways clarified in a statement: "Though Thai generally practices the de-identifying of an aircraft after an incident ... the company also clarifies that this is not a Star Alliance policy." Thirteen people received minor injuries during the evacuation after the landing gear malfunction. (More Thai Airways stories.)

Airline Workers Black Out Logos After Plane Accident
An airport worker drives a cart past a damaged Thai Airways Airbus A330-300 at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand Monday, Sept. 9, 2013.   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
Airline Workers Black Out Logos After Plane Accident
A damaged head section of a Thai Airways Airbus A330-300 is seen with the Thai Airways logo above windows blacked out at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand Monday, Sept. 9, 2013.   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)