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The deadly implosion of a submersible traveling to the wreck of the Titanic was the result of faulty engineering, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on Wednesday.

The NTSB’s final report on the voyage that killed five people in June 2023 said that OceanGate, the private company that owned the Titan, did not adequately test its experimental submersible before the trip. The Washington state-based firm, which suspended operations after the catastrophic implosion, was unaware of the submersible’s true durability, the report said.

The victims, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, died instantly in the North Atlantic during the descent to the remains of the Titanic.

The implosion also killed French underwater explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, known as “Mr Titanic”; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.

The Titan’s defective engineering “resulted in the construction of a carbon fiber composite pressure vessel that contained multiple anomalies and failed to meet necessary strength and durability requirements”, the NTSB said.

The safety board also said OceanGate had not followed standard guidance for emergency responses, and that the Titan could have been found sooner if it had. If the company had abided by expected protocols, it would have saved “time and resources”, the report said, while noting “rescue was not possible in this case”.

The report was also critical of the culture at the company, quoting a former operations technician who had raised alarms about potential coast guard regulations prior to the implosion. That technician had questioned the company’s choice to call paying passengers “mission specialists”, prompting the CEO to respond that “if the Coast Guard became a problem … he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away”, the report said, citing the technician.

The NTSB report dovetails with a coast guard report released in August that described the Titan implosion as preventable. The coast guard determined that safety procedures at OceanGate were “critically flawed” and found “glaring disparities” between safety protocols and actual practices.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on Wednesday.

In August, after the coast guard report was released, a company spokesperson offered condolences to the families of those who died.

The Titan’s implosion led to lawsuits and to calls for tighter regulation of private deep-sea expeditions.

The NTSB report suggested current regulations for small passenger vessels such as the Titan were inadequate and had “enabled OceanGate’s operation of the Titan in an unsafe manner”. The safety board recommended the coast guard establish a panel of experts to study submersibles and implement updated regulations.

The report also called on the coast guard to “disseminate findings of the study to the industry”, which has grown in recent years as privately financed exploration has grown.

The vessel had been making voyages to the Titanic site since 2021. Its final dive came on the morning of 18 June 2023. The submersible lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later and was reported overdue that afternoon.

A multiday search for survivors off Canada made international headlines. It soon became clear there would be no survivors, and the coast guard and other authorities began lengthy investigations into what had happened.

The sub disaster was the subject of a Netflix documentary released earlier this year.

By Tomi Kilgore

Air carrier’s stock falls as revenue extends its streak of misses, to offset another profit beat

United Airlines expects strong travel demand leading to record revenue in the holiday quarter, but the stock fell after third-quarter revenue missed expectations, again.

Shares of United Airlines Holdings Inc. fell in after-hours trading Wednesday, after the air carrier reported revenue that missed expectations for a third straight quarter, which took the shine off an upbeat travel outlook over the holidays.

The revenue miss comes even after profits continued to beat Wall Street’s projections, and after the company said it was “thriving” despite uncertainties about the economy, thanks to strong demand from flyers seeking premium services and from members of its frequent-flyer programs.

United’s stock (UAL) declined 1.9% in Wednesday’s after-hours session, after closing the regular session up 0.9% at a four-week high.

Net income for the quarter to Sept. 30 slipped 1.7% to $949 million, while adjusted earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, of $2.78 beat the FactSet consensus of $2.65. That marked the 13th straight quarter United had beat bottom-line expectations.

Meanwhile, total revenue rose 2.6% from the same period a year ago to $15.23 billion, but that was below the average analyst revenue estimate compiled by FactSet of $15.33 billion.

Revenue from premium seats increased 6% and revenue from its loyalty program members grew 9%, to outpace revenue growth from basic economy seating of 4%.

Passenger revenue, which excludes cargo and other revenue, rose 1.9% to $13.82 billion, with domestic revenue increasing 3.1%.

The company said the growth momentum, particularly in premium and loyalty flyers, has continued into the current fourth quarter. As a result, United now expects the fourth quarter to have “the highest total operating revenue for a single quarter in company history.”

United’s positive outlook comes a week after rival Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) made similar comments about its outlook for the rest of the year, with sales trends accelerating, particularly among premium flyers.

United’s stock has gained 7.2% in 2025 through Wednesday, while the U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS has edged up 0.7% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 13.4%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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  10-15-25 2017ET
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