Fort Worth’s American Airlines Marks 25th Anniversary of 9/11 With Museum Donations, Charitable Support

Hijackers crashed two American Airlines planes on 9/11 — Flight 11, which lost 87 passengers and crew members, and Flight 77, which lost 59 passengers and crew members.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum

Fort Worth-based American Airlines made a trio of charitable commitments to observe the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The airline and its CR Smith Museum, located at American’s Fort Worth campus, said they’ve made their 9/11 collection available to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.

Artifacts in the collection include a flag passed from flight deck to flight deck of American’s aircraft as a symbol of “resilience, unity and support” after 9/11, the airline said. Among other items in the collection are memorial quilts honoring people who died in the attacks and hundreds of pieces of correspondence American received after 9/11.

The CR Smith Museum houses more than 1,000 artifacts tied to 9/11, American said.

American also has donated to The Never Forget Fund, which provides money for the national 9/11 museum. Furthermore, the airline supports the soon-to-be-built National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Visitor Education Center with financial contributions and artifacts related to the Pentagon attack.

“9/11 forever changed our airline, our industry and our world,” American CEO Robert Isom said in a statement. “Over the years, our team has worked to honor the legacy of those lost, preserve their memories and shed light on the remarkable showing of care, resilience and humanity that followed that dark day.”

The 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killed 2,977 people. The death toll excludes the hijackers.

Passengers and crew members on two American flights died that day. Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing all 87 passengers and crew members on board, along with people inside the tower. Later, Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, claiming the lives of all 59 passengers and crew members aboard, as well as people inside the building.

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