There Will Never Be Another Flight 5342 on American Airlines. Here’s Why

Mar. 15, 2025

An American Airlines Boeing 777-223 in Barcelona, Spain, on February 23, 2024.Photo:Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty

Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty

American Airlines announced on Friday that Flight 5342 would cease to exist for the carrier.

The airline confirmed to PEOPLE that “Flight AA5342 will not be used for any future American Airlines flights.” The decision comes two days after a plane with that IDtragically collided midair with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C.The 5342 ID would have been used for each American flight on the same Wichita-to-D.C. route.

“Service between Wichita, Kansas (ICT) and Washington, D.C. (DCA) is currently scheduled to operate [Friday night] as AA5677," the airline said.

The crash on Jan. 29 took the lives of 67 people. On Thursday, Jan. 30, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials echoed their previous position that the crash hadno survivors. There were 60 passengers and four flight attendants on the jet, and three soldiers on the army aircraft.

American Airlines planes prepare for takeoff at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.John Gress/Corbis via Getty Images

The airline’s decision to remove AA5342 follows a common industry practice in which airlines retire numbers after tragic events.

American Airlines retired the flight number 77 after it crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, per the9/11 Pentagon Memorial. Eight years later, Air France Flight 447, an international passenger flight departing Rio de Janeiro for Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean; its number was retired, perABC News. In 2014, Malaysia Airlines retired the number of flights that went missing, MH370 as well as MH371, perThe Hill.

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The Coast Guard investigates aircraft wreckage on the Potomac River on January 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles/ U.S. Coast Guard via Getty

Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles/ U.S. Coast Guard via Getty

Among thevictims of the recent collisionin D.C. are14 ice skaters, a number of parents and students from Fairfax Public Schools in Virginia, four union members, four flight attendants and three U.S. Army soldiers.

D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly said during a news briefing on Friday, Jan. 31, that the bodies of 41 victims have already been recovered from the water, while 28 of those victims have been positively identified. He confirmed that theaircraft wreckage would need to be removedfrom the Potomac River to recover more victims.

source: people.com