Air Methods hits low after mid-air collision in Arizona

NEW YORK, Jul 01, 2008 (Thomson Financial via COMTEX) -- AIRM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Shares of Air Methods Corp. fell to its lowest price in more than a year on Monday after the company confirmed that one of its Bell 407 helicopters serving the Flagstaff Medical Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, collided with another medical helicopter.

The shares slipped 4.9% to trade at $25.06. Volume of 546,364 shares outpaced the issue's 30-day average volume of 227,127 shares by a substantial margin. The shares earlier hit an intraday low of $23.95, representing the lowest price for Air Methods shares since April 2007.

The collision occurred Sunday at 3:45 p.m. Three people on the Air Methods aircraft received fatal injuries.

Air Methods said it was was cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board in an investigation into the accident.

Avondale Partners, meanwhile, said it doesn't expect the crash to have too much of an impact on the company. "We believe the immediate impact of Sunday's accident will be a minimum of $400,000 - $800,000 ($0.02 - $0.04), primarily from worker's compensation claims," the firm wrote. Ryan Vlastelica rv/rv/vj

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