????《財(cái)富》雜志在去年11月采訪漢莎航空首席執(zhí)行官卡斯滕?斯波爾時(shí)，該公司剛因?yàn)槿蚪?jīng)濟(jì)疲軟和產(chǎn)能過(guò)剩調(diào)低了自己的收益預(yù)期,。這家德國(guó)航空公司在短途航班市場(chǎng)遭遇了易捷航空和瑞安航空等廉價(jià)運(yùn)營(yíng)商的擠壓,，在長(zhǎng)途航班上又面臨著一眾新興中東運(yùn)營(yíng)商的挑戰(zhàn)。飛行員罷工更是給漢莎航空雪上加霜,，使其付出了數(shù)億美元的代價(jià),。

????不過(guò)縱覽公司整體運(yùn)營(yíng)情況，這位當(dāng)時(shí)才上任六個(gè)月的首席執(zhí)行官指出,，漢莎旗下的廉價(jià)航空運(yùn)營(yíng)商德國(guó)之翼是一個(gè)亮點(diǎn),。

????他說(shuō)：“我們的廉價(jià)航空子公司德國(guó)之翼做得非常成功，超乎公司預(yù)期,?！贝_實(shí)，漢莎航空正把更多的歐洲客流從自身的旗艦品牌移向德國(guó)之翼和另一家廉價(jià)航空子公司歐洲之翼,，因?yàn)槠溥\(yùn)營(yíng)成本更低,。斯波爾對(duì)《財(cái)富》表示，他希望2002年成立的德國(guó)之翼能在2015年盈利：“看起來(lái)我們很有可能達(dá)成這個(gè)目標(biāo),?！?/p>

????但在本周二，我們不由懷疑這個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)是否還能實(shí)現(xiàn),。

????24日,，德國(guó)之翼運(yùn)營(yíng)的一架空客A320客機(jī)從巴塞羅那起飛，前往杜塞爾多夫，途中墜毀于法國(guó)阿爾卑斯山區(qū),。預(yù)計(jì)機(jī)上的150名乘客全部罹難,。

????斯波爾周二在Twitter上表示，對(duì)漢莎航空而言,，這是“黑暗的一天”,。公司官網(wǎng)稱：“對(duì)于這起墜機(jī)事件，德國(guó)之翼和漢莎航空的每個(gè)人都感到深深的震驚和悲哀,。我們將與機(jī)上乘客和機(jī)組人員的家人和朋友一起哀悼和祈禱,。”

????當(dāng)被問(wèn)到墜機(jī)事件將對(duì)公司業(yè)務(wù)產(chǎn)生哪些影響時(shí),，漢莎航空發(fā)言人表示,，公司首先要做的是對(duì)墜機(jī)事件進(jìn)行全面的調(diào)查,，并對(duì)機(jī)上乘客和機(jī)組人員的親友提供“他們所需的一切關(guān)懷和援助”,。

????漢莎航空的股價(jià)在周二一度暴跌4.6%，收盤(pán)時(shí)跌幅止于1.7%,。

????當(dāng)這樣的空難發(fā)生后,，坊間都會(huì)推測(cè)其對(duì)公司業(yè)務(wù)的長(zhǎng)期影響。不過(guò)一位行業(yè)顧問(wèn)兼前航空公司高管羅伯特?曼恩表示,，盡管大多數(shù)墜機(jī)事件令人悲傷,，被媒體頭條大幅報(bào)道，但“對(duì)運(yùn)營(yíng)商的未來(lái)業(yè)務(wù)基本不會(huì)造成影響”,。

????也有少數(shù)例外,，主要出現(xiàn)在那些“有跡象表明公司出現(xiàn)了系統(tǒng)性問(wèn)題，或是失職”的情況,。曼恩指出,，瓦盧杰航空就是因?yàn)楹笠环N情況走向了衰亡。

????1996年,，瓦盧杰航空592號(hào)航班起飛后不久就遭遇失火,，墜毀于佛羅里達(dá)州大沼澤地，機(jī)上110人全部罹難,?？针y調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，瓦盧杰的外包商在飛機(jī)貨艙內(nèi)非法放置了氧氣罐,，從而導(dǎo)致了這場(chǎng)悲劇,。曼恩表示：“這很諷刺，因?yàn)檫@甚至不是瓦盧杰的錯(cuò),，他們只是用了一個(gè)失職的供應(yīng)商,。”

????盡管如此，瓦盧杰航空也無(wú)法動(dòng)搖審查結(jié)果,，打消悲劇事件產(chǎn)生的負(fù)面影響,。美國(guó)聯(lián)邦航空管理局對(duì)瓦盧杰所有飛機(jī)下了禁飛令，這家運(yùn)營(yíng)商最終精簡(jiǎn)機(jī)隊(duì)后重新開(kāi)始運(yùn)營(yíng),，但他們?cè)僖矡o(wú)法挽回客戶群體,，并最終與小公司穿越航空合并，如今一起化作了美國(guó)西南航空公司的一部分,。

????還有一個(gè)例子是馬來(lái)西亞航空公司,。該公司接連遭遇了2014年3月的MH370航班失聯(lián)和7月的MH17在烏克蘭墜機(jī)，乘客數(shù)量急劇下降,。馬來(lái)西亞政府在2014年8月將其私有化,，試圖恢復(fù)這家公司的財(cái)務(wù)健康。

????從有關(guān)周二這起墜機(jī)事故的報(bào)道來(lái)看,，導(dǎo)致德國(guó)之翼飛機(jī)墜毀的原因尚不清楚,。曼恩指出，德國(guó)之翼的機(jī)組與漢莎航空其他機(jī)組一樣,，都由漢莎航空技術(shù)公司進(jìn)行維護(hù),。這是航空業(yè)最大的維修公司之一。漢莎航空上一起致命空難發(fā)生在20年前,，而德國(guó)之翼在本周二之前的安全記錄堪稱完美,。

????曼恩表示，漢莎航空是“一家高品質(zhì)的公司”,。其價(jià)值怎么夸張都不為過(guò),。他說(shuō)，每位乘客都想要便宜的價(jià)格,，但“有一樣?xùn)|西沒(méi)人會(huì)拿來(lái)?yè)Q錢(qián),，那就是安全?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

????When Fortune spoke with Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr in November, the company had just scaled back its earnings targets due to a weaker global economy and overcapacity. The German airline is being squeezed on short-haul flights by discount carriers like Easyjet and Ryan Air and by booming Middle Eastern carriers on long-haul routes. It’s been also been plagued by pilot strikes, which have cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

????But when surveying his airline’s overall operations, the CEO, who’d been on the job just six months at the time of his conversation with Fortune, pointed to its discount arm Germanwings as a bright spot.

????“Our low cost subsidiary Germanwings [has] been a great success; bigger than we expected,” he said. Indeed, Lufthansa is in the process of shifting more of its European traffic from its flagship brand to Germanwings and its other discount subsidiary, Eurowings, because of their lower operating costs. Spohr told Fortune that he expected Germanwings—which launched in 2002—to be profitable in 2015. “It very much looks like we will be meeting that target.”

????On Tuesday, it was easy to wonder if that still holds true.

????An Airbus A320 jetliner operated by Germanwingscrashed in the French Alps on its way from Barcelona to Dusseldorf on Tuesday morning. All 150 people on board are presumed dead.

????Spohr Tweeted on Tuesday that it was a “dark day” for Lufthansa. The company said on its website, “Everyone at Germanwings and Lufthansa is deeply shocked and saddened by these events. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the passengers and the crew members.”

????When asked about the business implications of the crash, a Lufthansa spokeswoman said that its highest priority was conducting a full investigation of the crash and providing the families and friends of the plane’s passengers and crew with “all the care and assistance they need.”

????Shares of Lufthansa dipped as much as 4.6% in European trading on Tuesday and closed 1.7% lower.

????When such airline catastrophes occur, there’s always speculation about what it will mean for the businesses involved for the long-term. Robert Mann, an industry consultant and a former airline executive, says that most plane crashes, as tragic and headline-grabbing as they may be, “have very little impact on a carrier’s ongoing business.”

????There are a few exceptions, mainly in cases where “there is an indication of systemic issues or incompetence.” Mann points to ValuJet as an example of a carrier that was wrecked by the latter.

????In 1996, ValuJet Flight 592 caught fire shortly after takeoff and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 passengers that were on board. An investigation into the crash determined that a ValuJet subcontractor that had illegally loaded oxygen tanks into the plane’s cargo hold was responsible for the tragedy “It’s ironic, since it wasn’t even ValuJet’s fault; it just happened to use a vendor who was incompetent,” Mann says.

????But still, ValuJet couldn’t shake the scrutiny and fallout from the tragedy. After the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all ValuJet planes, the carrier eventually returned to the air with a reduced fleet, but it never rebuilt its customer base and ultimately merged with the smaller AirTran Airways, which is now a part of Southwest Airlines.

????Then there’s Malaysia Airlines, which saw a drastic drop-off in passengers following the disappearance of Flight 370 in March 2014 and the fatal downing of Flight 17 in Ukraine in July. The Malaysian government took the airline private in August in an attempt to restore its financial health.

????Based on reports of Tuesday’s plane crash, it’s not clear what caused the Germanwings aircraft to go down. Mann notes that Lufthansa services its Germanwings fleet, alongside the rest of its planes, at Lufthansa Technik, one of the airline industry’s largest maintenance providers. Lufthansa’s last fatal accident occurred 20 years ago, and Germanwings’ safety record was perfect until Tuesday.

????Lufthansa is “a quality organization”, Mann says. The value of that attribute can’t be overstated. Every airline passenger is after a good price, but “the one thing people will not trade away is safety,” he says.