Airline executives are worried about terrorism.
They are not worried about being targets—they are worried that people will be afraid to fly. This was the topic at gathering of airline executives June 4.
Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Alexandre de Juniac, said the London attack could put a damper on tourism to Britain.
“In previous events, in Brussels or in Paris, the traffic has reduced coming from certain regions of the world,” he noted.
He hoped the industry wouldn’t see a similar decline in flights to the U.K. over the summer.
Travel bans and laptop bans further constrict travel, he pointed out, and possibly did nothing to actually increase the safety of passengers.
Airline executives recognize that there are real threats. They understand that terrorism is a global issue and everyone must play a part to prevent it. They seek solutions that will not bankrupt the business.
“We do not believe that a ban (on laptops) is a good solution to address the threat as far as we understand that threat,” de Juniac stated. “We say that there are alternative measures that are possible to implement, that could be as effective and probably even more effective and more adapted to the threat and to the nature of our activities. So, explosive technology detection, the use of dogs, training the security teams in the checkpoint.”
Industry officials want everyone to fly safely—but they need people to want to fly.
