LOS ANGELES — United Airlines apologized Wednesday for inadvertently reactivating the retired flight numbers of the two planes that crashed after being hijacked by terrorists Sept. 11, 2001.
The flight numbers were assigned by a computer late Monday for sales of future flights, said Rahsaan Johnson, an airline spokesman. Early Wednesday, airline officials noticed the error and immediately removed them from the system.
Although not required by the Federal Aviation Administration, airlines typically retire the numbers of flights involved in fatal crashes, an FAA spokeswoman said.
United Flight 93 was hijacked while en route to San Francisco from Newark, N.J., and crashed in Shanksville, Pa., killing all 44 people aboard. Jason Dahl, who lived in Ken Caryl Valley and whose widow, Sandy, now resides in Lone Tree, was Flight 93’s pilot.
United Flight 175, traveling from Boston to Los Angeles, was hijacked and crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York with 65 people onboard.
Though the flights will be operated by Continental Airlines, they were given a United flight number under a code-share agreement between the two airlines. Los Angeles Times
