American International Group Inc. (AIG) is the lead insurer for the Asiana Airlines plane that crashed in San Francisco Saturday, taking the largest slice of risk among a pool of insurers that sold about $100 million in insurance on the plane's The overnight flight from Seoul, South Korea, with 307 people on board hit a rocky sea wall, which sheared off its tail and landing gear, then it slammed onto the runway, skidded, spun off the tarmac and erupted into flames. Two people died in the crash and more than 180 were injured.
Remarkably, 123 passengers walked away without major injuries after exiting from emergency slides or leaping from gaping holes in the burned body of the plane.
Insurance of large planes is generally spread among a diverse pool of insurance companies, with no one insurer taking on a majority of the risk. AIG, one of the largest property-casualty insurers in the world, has long been a major player in insuring aircraft.