Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

19 Years after 9/11, COVID-19 poses similar threat to travel industry

Today marks 19 years since passenger jets hijacked by terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in New York City, and crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, USA.

The event, now known as the 9/11 Attacks killed nearly 3,000 people — some 2,700 of them in New York.

To date, 9/11 is the deadliest attack in US history and an event that would change the air travel industry forever.

Anyone in the world who remembers travelling before that fateful September 11 day can attest to the fact that everything was different — easier to say the least.

Identification requirements, shoe removal, baggage screening, liquid ban, jacket removal, enhanced pat-downs and enhanced cockpit doors are all things that became associated with air travel after 9/11.

Some of these freedoms are missed, especially the freedom of taking the entire family to the airport just to wave goodbye to the one family member who had to board a flight. This was something especially enjoyed by Caribbean people.

But just like the sinking of the Titanic impacted the maritime industry, 9/11 revolutionized the air travel industry. No other single event had impacted the air travel industry like 9/11.

Until COVID-19.

Global air travel wont recover till at least 2024


Not only has the pandemic — which originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019 — caused massive layoffs in the airline industry, but the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted a few weeks ago that global air travel won’t recover from the COVID-19 crisis until 2024.

The pandemic has also driven fear into travellers, who desist from visiting destinations out of concern for their health.

And the fears are legitimate. With over 900,000 deaths worldwide, COVID-19 has way surpassed 9/11 in terms of fatalities.

Today, none of us can imagine travelling without presenting proper identification. And for some time to come, we can be certain we won’t be able to board a flight without wearing masks and sanitizing ourselves every step of the way until we arrive at our destinations.

Who knows? Just like we have to declare how much cash we are carrying to our destinations, we might soon be asked to declare the last time we received a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding a flight

These and many other changes are likely unless a vaccine is discovered to calm the fear that has enveloped the global community.

We’re not sure how things will look for the air travel industry in the next five years. But one thing’s for sure, things may very well look quite different.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
×