I personally think that the damage could have been worse if the attacks were later in the day. A lot of people in the financial industry work late, and start after 9:00 am. I bet that the terrorists were very concerned with the planes all leaving on time so that the attacks could be coordinated. As we all know, the only flight that will leave major east coast airports on time are the first flights of the day, so the terrorist were forced to pick early flights. So in a way, i think that airlines inability to operate ontime out of bos/ewr/iad may have actually saved some lives.