AirportBusiness Blogs

… let me add one. It’s 9/11/01 and we’re in Montreal for the annual convention of Airports Council International – North America. In my hotel room, I tie my tie as I watch CNN; they’re trying to explain why one of the World Trade Center buildings is burning. I’m ready to leave the hotel room and get to the convention but I can’t get away from that image on the screen. As I go to turn off the TV, I watch as another plane hits Tower No. 2.

My response (yelling to myself): “The bastards have finally done it!” All of us in industry (and government) knew airline-controlled passenger screening was a joke. The concept of using airplanes as weapons was not a new idea. The interesting thing for me was my immediate reaction when I saw that second airplane — I knew what had just happened. It’s not that I was so far ahead of the class on this learning curve; it’s more that this was the realization of what many people had for so long expected.

At the convention, things had shut down, except for the airing of CNN coverage. I recall standing next to Jeff Fegan of DFW as we watched one of his managers being interviewed. I asked him what he was feeling at that moment. His response: You have to believe in your people that they will do (say) the right thing. His did.

From an AIRPORT BUSINESS perspective the bottom line of 9/11 reflections is this: Airports took 9/11 seriously; Congress did not; it only pretended to, which is why every commercial airport in the U.S. doesn’t have explosives detection equipment in place, in line, to date. The post mortem on 9/11 is that the U.S. Congress has failed us. The memories, however, should reinforce why this country cannot give up the fight.

Thanks for reading.

jfi