The Sunday Herald in England has this marvelous article:-
http://www.sundayherald.com/57459
I love that headline! - Falacious Airline Risks: Indeed!
This is a long article that covers a number of points raised in and some information security forums I participate in and is begining to creep in to the awareness of other journalists. That the enhanced security since 9/11 is not just a cost to the airlines but also has an economic impact in other ways - loss of business and hence hence loss of jobs and hence bankrupcies.
One idea I would like to mention is the possibility that flights between the UK and USA will just not happen. People will fly between Canada and Continental Europe and take surface transport for the difference. Heathrow will cease to be a hub for transatlantic travel and revert to being farmland, crippling the UK economy and what is left of its aircraft industry. Of course Canada, Ireland and some European countries will take up the slack and have a more logical and less ‘politically correct’ (see the article’s note about ‘”positive” profiling’) attitude and hence not aggravate travelers and drive discount airlines into bankruptcy. The deregulation of the airline industry has seen the loss of many carriers a it has become more price agressive. A side effect is that we no longer have the confort in tourist class that we once did, “proper” meals on plates with knives and forks and napkins. The long security queues were just more of this growing discomfort, raising the baseline.
The statistics are in - tourist airline travel is falling off.
This is a Good article, well worth reading.
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