Can the pandemic change airlines forever? “Whereas 9/11 was a temporary but major disruption of the industry, COVID has the potential to reshape the industry in entirely new ways,” said one expert about the air travel industry.
Twenty years ago, terrorists hijacked four commercial planes and essentially turned them into bombs, carrying out one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history. And air travel was never the same again.
Two decades after 9/11, airlines and airports are grappling with another global crisis in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, and again their operations have been upended. Airline employees are suddenly on the frontline of the effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus causing COVID-19. Desk agents are tasked with verifying vaccine and testing records for international itineraries.
But all of that is a very new, relatively speaking. Security protocols existed before 9/11, but they were far less stringent. Individual airports were allowed to manage their own screenings at that time, as long as they complied with federal standards. And airport operators aimed to downplay the security procedures.
All of these changes to security procedures have had ripple effects for the way we travel. Pre-9/11, there were far more shops and restaurants in airports before travelers reached security checkpoints — those have moved further inside, given that people will commonly show up long before their flights these days. It’s also necessitated new amenities to make the process enjoyable, or at least more easily bearable.
There’s one key difference between 9/11 and COVID, in terms of the industry’s financial health: Prior to COVID, airlines were raking in money and enjoying a new heyday in travel, whereas before 9/11 the industry was already suffering financially, industry experts noted. That has echoes today, with flight attendants now tasked with even more safety-oriented responsibilities amid the pandemic. Besides the standard safety-practices demonstrations and beverage service, flight attendants are now entrusted with ensuring that passengers abide by federal requirements around mask wearing. On flights today, it’s not unusual to see a flight attendant approach passengers with pointed guidance on covering their faces properly.
President Biden announced Thursday that the Transportation Security Administration would double fines levied against passengers who don’t abide by its mask requirements. “If you break the rules, be prepared to pay,” Biden said. These trends were already in place before the pandemic, but COVID is accelerating adoption, Bednarek said. “Anything that will remove friction — that will move people faster — is going to be adopted and will be more prominent going forward,” she said.
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