Six Flags Predicts Roller Coaster Tragedies Won’t Hurt Company

Six Flags tried to assure investors Thursday that despite some decline in attendance last month, the recent tragedy at Six Flags Over Georgia and waves of negative press about injury claims due to the permanently shuttered X2 ride at Magic Mountain won’t impact the company’s long-term prospects.

“Confidence isn’t restored with a statement; it is earned through action, and our leadership team is committed to earning it,” said Six Flags Entertainment Corporation’s president and CEO John Reilly. “Every guest and team member deserves to feel safe in our parks.”

Six Flags has been reeling in the wake of lawsuits related to X2, in which two riders were hospitalized with brain hemorrhages earlier this year, and CNN has reported that many other riders are claiming similar injuries. There was also the October death of a rider who was ejected from his seat from the Goliath coaster in Georgia, prompting a slew of temporary closures of similar rides. Executives repeated referred to the death as “the incident” during the call.

Reilly said October attendance was down 9 percent — partly due to poor weather on certain weekends, but also due to “the impact of the incident at Six Flags Over Georgia and the ride closures.”

“Local authorities and the ride manufacturer are investigating what happened in Georgia,” Reilly said. “We are assisting fully in conducting our own internal review.” The executive added that they’re also undertaking a safety review of their entire ride portfolio which will be “supported and verified by independent third-party engineering and inspection specialists.”

Reilly predicted that the impact of the tragedies, in terms of hurting future attendance, will be minor.

“We’ve gone back and studied incidents in the industry and — it’s very difficult to make a prediction — but these things are typically not a matter of years and more a matter of months, if as we do all the right things … Any impact from that seems to be limited to Georgia and, potentially, Magic Mountain because we have the X2 matter, as well, and then some isolated impacts on parks that have temporary closures … but we don’t see anything beyond.”

The company is planning on taking a couple definitive steps. Six Flags plans to add seat belts to certain coasters that use a descending lap bar similar to the one on Georgia’s Goliath ride. Also, the AireForce One coaster is moving from the closed Fun Spot America in Atlanta to Magic Mountain. The company added on the call Magic Mountain, “will be undergoing a major refurbishment.” He adds that Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey and Six Flags Great America near Chicago have similar programs underway, designed to make the parks more family-friendly with additional comfort, shade and amenities.

The executive noted they’re also open to exploring the idea of selling parks, saying, “we do believe there’s opportunity for further portfolio optimization, and now that the bulk of the season has passed, those discussions are underway … we’re open to sales like that going forward.”