European Airlines Lose Five Million Passengers Following September 11

European airlines lost 5 million passengers last year as a result of the US terror attacks, according to the Association of European Airlines.

The association says traffic was down 2% early in the year but, after September 11, it fell by more than 30%.

But the Association says that the numbers do not fully reflect the impact of the attacks.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2002/01/1011962571.html

Return to normal for air travel no reason for hope

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...business%2Dhed

Protocol Study Evaluates Traveler Confidence and Air Travel Safety, Four Months After Sept. 11, 2001

Following the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, the American population has found itself on the front line of the battle against terrorism. The issue of airline safety has become one of the most publicized areas of change. Many changes were, and are still being made by airlines, airports, and the federal government to protect the public and make air travel as safe as possible. However, a sense of vulnerability lingers.

During the period January 16th to January 27th, 2002 Protocol Communications, Inc., conducted a national Internet survey among business and pleasure flyers to examine the impact that the 9/11 attack had on their concerns about flying and what can be done to help assuage their fears. The survey was conducted by E-mail invitations among 272 adults, age 18 and over. Half were business travelers and half were pleasure travelers. Four months after the 9/11 attacks, air travelers are very concerned about air travel safety.

Hijack prevention and baggage screening are the main safety concerns of business and pleasure air travelers. However, not all solutions are equally comforting. In terms of prevention, securing cockpit doors is the #1 source of reassurance rather than turning pilots into Air Marshals and having them carry guns. Instead, a Federal Air Marshal program is highly desirable (although not at the same level as secure cockpit doors).

Four of the top ten measures that will make air travelers feel safer are related to baggage screening. However, respondents want screening done by hi-tech machines and are less in favor of personal searches. They may feel that airport personnel cannot be trained well enough to perform a perfect search and machine screening might be seen as less of an invasion of privacy and more expedient. Rounding out the top preferred solutions are those dealing with better/stricter background checking of airport personnel.

One in three business travelers (35%) tell us that 9/11 has affected their business travel extremely or very much. Other alternatives are being used frequently for business meetings. They are E-mail (46%), conference calls (39%) and the Internet (38%).

The complete study is available at

http://www.protocolusa.com

or by contacting Jacqueline Lucas, Director of Corporate Marketing. The study also addresses the following:

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020205/52538_1.html

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Global Airline Industrty In Trouble?

The global airline industry lost USD$15 billion last year, according to Pierre Jeanniot, director-general of the International Air Transport Association.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, a gathering of corporate and government leaders, he stressed it was essential that the industry return to sustainable profitability levels as soon as possible.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2002/02/1012915396.html


[This message has been edited by doc (edited 02-05-2002).]

An empty check-in area in Terminal 4 at Kennedy, where rent is tied to passengers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/07/nyregion/07AIRP.html

A New Consumer Emerges to Pull the Demand Chain, According to BIGresearch

Signs of an economic rebound are starting to filter through the clouds of recession, but the emerging portrait of the consumer landscape may be a lot different than in the past according to just released findings from the monthly Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey (TM) by BIGresearch. The survey was taken between February 3-7th and included the opinions of 7,400 people.

``People are still buying but they are buying differently. Vacation travel has been trending up as a purchase intention over the past several months. This may signal the return of the family vacation as a way of spending more time with family. Also, consumers need to be enticed and the price value equation is definitely key in today's market, this will have a big impact on the bottom lines of companies or products that are positioned for a market which may no longer exist,'' said Joe Pilotta, Ph.D., Vice President of Research for BIGresearch.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020212/122327_1.html

Donald J. Carty, American Airlines Chairman yesterday told members of The Wings Club in Manhattan that the lessons of September 11 have changed the airline industry forever.

Carty said that American and the industry are still faced with formidable problems in a number of areas:

- Security. He said the government and the airlines must make sure that aviation security remained an important part of national security.

- Industry infrastructure. The lack of sufficient air traffic control capability, airports and runways remained a serious industry problem.

- Airline profitability. If airlines cannot begin to generate a reasonable return for their shareholders, they will not be able to invest in aircraft and facilities to help the airline industry re- energize the US economy.

- Supply and demand. Customers are coming back to the industry, but they are paying very low fares.

- Labor relations. Airlines and their unions need to find better ways to settle disputes, and the government may need to play a role.

- Consolidation. The large US carriers should be able to survive in the short term, but acquisitions of other carriers appear unlikely for a number of reasons.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2002/02/1014211392.html

In a related story:

Government Says Guns Will Not Be Allowed in Cockpits

The federal government said Tuesday that pilots will not be allowed to have guns in the cockpits of commercial airplanes.

The announcement was made at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing by John Magaw, undersecretary for transportation security. It followed months of debate over whether arming pilots would be a deterrent to hijackers.

Both Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge previously indicated their opposition to arming pilots.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...kpit-Guns.html


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/003120.html

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A further step toward "normalcy"? I hope so! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif