That is one impressive woman. She's gone through hell and yet despite it all, she has the ability to see through the hysteria and hype and see that flying is safe.

Very impressive.

THE JITTERY SKIES: CONQUERING THE FEAR OF FLYING

One in 10 Americans is afraid to fly, says Anita Dunham-Potter, Find out how to cope with aerophobia in the current "Real Traveler."

http://rd.SmarterLiving.com/da101801.col2

Airline Rebound Depends on Service-Expert

Will business travelers frightened away from air travel by the threat of terrorism and the economic slowdown gradually return to the skies as time passes and fears ease?

The airlines better not wait to find out, according to one expert, who believes the battle is being fought -- and not well -- right now.

The biggest thing air carriers can do now is to work with existing customers, many of whom are just testing the waters, to give them a travel experience that is as positive as possible under the circumstances, according to Stephen Brown, director of the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University.


Among other things he believes the airlines may be damaging themselves by massive layoffs at a time when they need to invest in front-line people power to win back customers facing new security and other travel hurdles.

http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt...as/money/cm/nw


16 Reasons to Fly Again

http://www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?...&doc_id=204726

One week after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Angela K. Selden did the previously unthinkable: she took a flight with a layover in Denver.
Ms. Selden heads a business unit of the management consulting firm Accenture and flies well over 100,000 miles each year. And one of her cardinal rules of avoiding travel problems is that she flies direct. But with the uncomfortable knowledge that the Sept. 11 hijackers chose cross-country planes fully loaded with fuel, she decided to trade convenience for what she thought might be a lower level of risk.

Ms. Selden's decision is a small example of how the peripatetic tribe of those who frequently travel on business has dealt with changes wrought by the attacks...

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/business/22ROAD.html



[This message has been edited by doc (edited 10-22-2001).]

Fighting To Keep The Planes Aloft
Europe�s airlines were suffering before Sept. 11, but now it�s a battle for survival as business goes into a tailspin

http://www.time.com/time/europe/biz/...177057,00.html

J.D. Power and Associates and Yahoo! Inc. Report: Nearly Two-Thirds of Airline Travelers ``Already Comfortable'' With Flying Again

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011023/230832_1.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 10-23-2001).]

Union calls for help with crisis-hit airline industry

The Government is being urged to launch an advertising campaign encouraging people to return to flying.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm...atestheadlines

This thread should be moved to In The News. It is nothing but a list of press releases.

Airline Passengers 23% Fewer 6 Weeks After Attacks

About 23% fewer people are flying compared with last year and the number of passengers returning to the skies six weeks after the terror attacks is apparently tapering off.

With just two days left in October, the industrywide load factor, or percentage of seats filled, is 64 percent, with international flights even less full than domestic ones, according to the major airlines' trade group, the Air Transport Association.

http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/011029/atta...sengers_1.html

Scheduled Flight Numbers Slump - IATA

The number of air passengers traveling on international scheduled flights fell by 17% in September compared with the same month last year according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

IATA said the monthly drop was the biggest since immediately after the Gulf War in 1991.

As a result, IATA said passenger traffic on the international scheduled services of its 274 member airlines showed no growth in the first nine months of this year.

Total passenger and freight traffic fell by nearly 3% during the first nine months.

IATA said carriers registered in North America were most seriously affected, with passenger and freight traffic falling by more than 30% in September.


http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/10/1004532470.html

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).]

Frequent Flyers Give International Business Travel The Green Light

UK Business travellers do not appear reluctant to fly following the terrorist attacks on September 11th in the United States.

Initial research conducted by Spafax and The Brand Development Centre in London has found that all the passengers interviewed intended to continue flying on business in much the same way as they had prior to the tragic events in the USA. Most admitted they would be likely to feel a little nervous on their first flight post-September 11 but would still choose to fly as normal in the future. These findings will offer hope to airlines suffering from the steep decline in air travel caused by the attacks and the cooling of the global economy.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011102/22060_1.html

My Creepy American Airlines Flight

...At some point, the airlines had better figure out that in order to get people flying again they're going to need to truly make the skies safer, and just as importantly, make the public BELIEVE the skies are safer. The first is about reality, and the second, perception. For all I know, this might have been the safest flight of my life (though judging by press reports today, that an American-Airlines controlled terminal at New York's Kennedy airport had to be evacuated yesterday because of poor security, I'm beginning to wonder). But because of poor appearances in the airport and on the plane, it felt like one of the worst.

None of this was a real confidence booster for a guy who really didn't want to fly, but felt he should do the right thing. If only our flight attendant had felt the same.

http://usnews.about.com/library/weekly/aa110201a.htm

If we try to deal with perception, we are in real trouble. What you are saying here is that because JFK shutdown, you feel unsafe. Or said another way, if they did NOT shut down, you would have never heard of this problem and therefore would FEEL better. Neither the airlines of the feds can deal with this type of concern and should not spend billions trying. Humans will ALWAYS make some mistakes. Accept it.

Personally, I do accept it!

Airline passenger numbers drop

October statistics reflect terrorist-attack cutbacks

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo...FE2A322A6D8%7D

Research sponsored by US aircraft manufacturer Boeing, suggests that increased airline and airport security measures have made passengers feel safer about flying.

The survey showed that among those who have flown since September 11, 91 percent of respondents claimed that they believed air travel to be safe and 96 percent said that Americans should enjoy the freedom to fly safely.

Some 92 percent predicted that air travel would return to pre-attack levels within the next year.

The survey was conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide on 27-30 September, 12-13 October and 23-25 October. A total of 2,109 adults took part.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/11/1004995080.html


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Domestic flights industrywide flew at only about 65 percent of capacity in October, even after reductions in scheduled flights of about 20 percent on average. (Effective last Thursday, Delta has reduced capacity by 16 percent.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/06/bu...rchpv=nytToday


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Break-Even Load Factors For Major Airlines

Load factors are critically important; the more seats an airline fills, the greater its ability to generate positive cash flow. Below is an analysis by Fitch determining the break-even load factors requirements for nine major airlines.


Company Break-Even Load Factor (pre-9/11) Break-Even Load Factor (post-9/11)

American Airlines (nyse: AMR - news - people) 74% 85%
United Airlines (nyse: UAL - news - people) 84 96
Delta Air Lines (nyse: DAL - news - people) 75 85
Southwest Airlines (nyse: LUV - news - people) 57 65
US Airways (nyse: U - news - people) 76 88
Northwest Airlines (nasdaq: NWAL - news - people) 81 90
Alaska Airlines (nyse: ALK - news - people) 67 75
Continental Airlines (nyse: CAL - news - people) 67 77
America West Airlines (nyse: AWA - news - people) 79 88


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Airlines Say Quick Comeback Isn't on Horizon

Business passenger traffic, a major revenue source, remains sluggish despite fare cuts.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-0...nes%2Dbusiness

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-07-2001).]