Boeing Survey Indicates Most Air Travelers Feel Safe
- Despite Sept. 11 Event, 90 Percent of Travelers Are Confident About Flying - 'Freedom Is Being There' Ad Campaign Launched to Reassure Travelers
SEATTLE, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Heightened airline and airport security measures are beginning to pay off, according to a comprehensive new air travel survey sponsored by Boeing (NYSE: BA - news).

The survey found that 9 out of 10 Americans who have flown commercially since Sept. 11 felt ``safe'' or ``very safe.''

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011101/sfth037_1.html


Restoring Confidence in Air Travel

With many Americans still too worried about the level of airport security to resume flying, and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta acknowledging "intolerable" lapses nationwide, the House of Representatives has an opportunity today to help restore the public's confidence in the nation's aviation system. It ought to pass legislation identical to the aviation security measure passed unanimously by the Senate on Oct. 11.

The House Republican leadership is pushing for a weaker alternative that allows private companies to continue staffing airport security checkpoints. The Senate version would make airport screeners federal employees, akin to Border Patrol and Customs agents. Only the Senate approach will reassure Americans that Congress is willing to set aside partisan politics to protect them.

Making the screeners federal employees got bipartisan support in the Senate, where the bill passed 100 to 0 three weeks ago. That was not surprising. Contrary to assertions by House Republican leaders, charging the government with the vital law enforcement task of keeping terrorists off airplanes is hardly a controversial, left-wing notion.

Lobbyists on both sides of the issue have been engaged in a bizarre debate over the extent to which private companies are involved in airport security everywhere from the Netherlands to Israel, with some conservatives revealing a newfound admiration of foreign ways. But Senator John McCain got it right when he said that Americans properly viewed keeping air travel safe as a law enforcement function that the government must assume.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/01/opinion/01THU3.html?ex=10052 82000&en=8af4c3f1c72bb56e&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-01-2001).]