As the tragic events of September 11 unfolded in New York City and Washington, D.C., the potential effect on the regional airline industry’s bottom line paled in significance to the loss of life and the implications to global peace. But as the days wore on and the initial shock of the tragedy subsided, the recognition of the profound changes in store for the entire air transport business became painfully apparent. Never has an event so tarnished the image of air travel. But perhaps more significantly, never has a single event so affected people’s appreciation of their freedom to fly from place to place unfettered.
“This is an industry that has more to contribute than possibly any other industry to promoting international understanding. It is the height of sad irony that it was used as a tool for exploiting divisions,” lamented ERA director general Mike Ambrose three days after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. “The mood of the general assembly will be far more subdued than in previous years, but one in which we recognize that a great wrong has been done, not just to the United States, but in the sense that such a noble industry has been used as the instrument of such evil.”
