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Last week the company's stock lost altitude, and ValuJet's market value fell 27%. It is unclear whether ValuJet will hit even worse turbulence in the long term. "In the big scheme of things, accidents happen, there's a lot of fanfare, it blows off, and the company goes on," says Kit Darby, president of Air Inc., an Atlanta information service for professional pilots. Although Air Florida eventually went under after a 1982 crash in Washington, Darby believes that ValuJet, with its firmer financial footing, may well absorb this setback. "Historically people don't think about safety," says Darby. "They want to go when they want to go at a cheap price."
But other low-cost carriers are already feeling the shock waves. Mark McDonald, president and CEO of Nations Air Express, a 15-month-old start-up based in Smyrna, Georgia, says the ValuJet crash has had "a tremendous impact" on his business. "Our bookings have been dropping about 40% a day [since the crash]," he says. "There is a lot of concern out there, and it's not getting any better." Jordan, who last week appointed retired Air Force General James B. Davis as ValuJet's new "safety czar," remains convinced, though, that his company--and passengers--can again fly high. "We will be better than just keeping afloat," he insists. "We will recover from this and rise to a new level of customer confidence and become a fine airline." Much of that depends, of course, on answers still buried deep in the Florida swamp.
--Reported by Jerry Hannifin/Washington and Stacy Perman/Atlanta