911, five years after

Five years after the event that reshaped travel and tourism, the date etched in memory – September 11 – passed on just like any other day for most people this week. Half a decade is a long time indeed and time has the effect of blurring and softening our experiences.

If you have been in this industry, you would have noticed how you felt the day after and now, five years after. You’ve probably flown to this Mart (and found that you had so much choice of airlines and routes); gone through security procedures at the airport which weren’t as stringent five years ago but to which you have become accustomed to; you saw armed personnel in the airport but you think they’ve been there as long as the duty free shops have been; you’re meeting people from destinations which may have experienced terror attacks but which are not critical as you discuss business with them.

Many things changed after that day and many didn’t.

Aviation and airlines in particular, have been the ones most affected by the events of September 11.

US airlines aren’t doing that well but the outlook for the rest of the airlines around the world looks fairly clear, especially in this part of the world. Low-cost carriers have cropped up everywhere like mushrooms after heavy rain. They’ve brought into the air people who would have never been able to afford the prices charged by the full-service carriers.

Passengers have been flying more than ever before and this despite the higher oil prices (though it has fallen in recent days). This begs the question – how much impact did 911 have in shaking the aviation industry and bringing about these changes? With or without 911, things were bound to change and 911 only accelerated these. Even then, the changes could be seen as the result of broader economic changes not related to the 911 attacks at all (Economic historians will tell us years from now).

The painful cuts that legacy carriers had to make – 911 or not – would have been done anyway but they had another excuse and so the cost cuts and staff cuts were seen in that context.

But terror or the threat of terror has not stopped people from traveling and that’s the most significant development five years from that day. Perhaps it’s more so a way of telling terrorists that our way of lives won’t be disrupted by their actions. Americans themselves are flying more, even more than pre-911 numbers. The rest of the world quickly resumed their traveling pattern after the foiled attacks in the UK recently.

Or perhaps travelers are telling themselves that there’s no point not flying because they can be victims of terrorism, a natural disaster or plain bad luck just about anytime, anywhere. Any place can be deemed unsafe – even Singapore this month which is hosting the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings. But that isn’t stopping over 16,000 delegates and officials to meet and go about their business.

Or the simple reason more people are flying is because it’s cheaper now to board a plane.

In addressing Americans this week, US president George Bush said the “terror war is our generation’s calling”.

Terrorists have been around way before 911. September 11 gave them a branding.

Is the world any safer than five years ago? We’ve seen a war in Afghanistan, a war in Iraq and a threatening Iran.

A couple of bombs go off in the Middle East regularly; Southern Thailand and parts of Indonesia have also

been victims as well as parts of Europe and South Asia. The net result is that terror and the threat of terror are now more globally spread. But amid the news reports and stories on terrorist attacks, the story that gets lost is how terror attacks have been foiled. These may not sound newsy but suffice to say, there have been success stories in the fight against terror. Perhaps the less we hear of these may also be better – we don’t want the terrorists to know what’s being done to thwart them and their plots.