Le 11 September 2001 was a staggering event for the world. All those who lived through the event will remember the stupefying, surreal images of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers in Paris. New York and the devastation that followed.
According to Director General of IATA, Willie WalshWhile the world's attention is still focused on the release of Covid-19 and the devastation it caused, the commemoration of the tragic events of 11 September remains of crucial importance. To support the families and loved ones of the victims, but also to honour the heroic acts of those who sacrificed themselves, like the passengers on United Airlines Flight 093, which was diverted from its deadly target over Washington.
Willie Walsh points out that, two decades later, air transport is still living with the consequences of these attacks. Not least in a set of security and intelligence measures that are superimposed on air transport.
Safety transformed
For passengers, the most visible change has been at airport security checkpointsAlthough the most intrusive post-September 11 changes - the removal of shoes from checkpoints, the removal of laptops and liquids from hand luggage, and strict limits on freedom of movement - were the result of subsequent terrorist plots against civil aviation.
From an economic point of view, 11 September devastated the sector financially. US airlines bore the brunt immediately afterwards, but the aftershocks and the SARS epidemic of 2003, combined with new concerns about terrorism during and after the US invasion of Iraq, prolonged the crisis for many airlines. Barely recovered around 2005, air transport plunged into the global sub-prime financial crisis in 2008-09.
In his analysis, Willie Walsh compares the damage caused by 11 September 2001 and the 2008 financial crisis with that caused by the Covid-19 crisis.. The impact of Covid is infinitely more serious in his eyes..
The border closures and travel restrictions imposed by governments to try and slow the spread of the disease, have practically crippled the industry in 2020. Eighteen months later, international traffic is only a quarter of its pre-crisis levels.
The inability of governments to have unified rules
It seems that governments have still not learnt the lessons of previous crises, particularly that of 11 September 2001. One of the main lessons of the latter was to put in place security rules homogeneous. The model also proved effective thanks to cooperation with passengers. Not least because the authorities considered that the majority of passengers represented a low security risk.
For the Director General of IATA, A parallel can be drawn with the management of the 11 September and Covid-19 air transport crises. Willie Walsh criticised the way the pandemic was being managed.
The Director General of IATA is still waiting for the develop worldwide rules that would exempt vaccinated travellers from testing and quarantine requirements. Willie Walsh continues to advocate setting up an early warning system and a border opening based on health risk assessment.
For example, if the risk of transmission is higher in country A than in country B, there is no real reason why country A should prohibit vaccinated travellers from country B from coming. It's easy to see why Willie Walsh blames the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan...
"We must also ensure that measures against Covid-19 are not in place any longer than necessary," he wrote in his plea.
While it is necessary for governments and airlines to work together to assess the potential risks that are inherent in any activity, Willie Walsh believes that the way in which health measures are imposed on civil aviation, without prior consultation by governments, is latent proof that lessons have still not been learned at global level...
