Loking at the crowds in Irish airports this August, one could forget that last September ever happened. The crush of humanity queuing, running, collecting luggage and meeting friends belies the cataclysmic fear that gripped the whole world after the sight of passenger planes crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre transfixed us all.
But now, the terror nearly everyone on the planet experienced has receded into the collective short memory. After the initial dip in air passengers, especially in the United States, a partial recovery has meant air travel is still as pervasive, if even more difficult, than it was in the last century.
International air traffic fell 40 per cent in the three months following the September attacks - a drop four times greater than the Gulf War effect in 1991, according to to a study by the International Labour Organisation, presented to an ILO forum in Geneva earlier this year. Total international passenger traffic fell 17 per cent. There has been a recovery since, although US passenger numbers are still short of their pre-9/11 figures.
A full recovery in passenger figures is only expected after this summer. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which cut almost 30,000 jobs in the aftermath of 9/11, says it will take three years for commercial airline traffic to recover from the hijacker attacks on the US.
And for those employed in the airline industry 9/11 also created an earthquake. The International Labour Organisation says at least a quarter of a million jobs have been lost as airlines cut jobs in response to reduced demand - and Aer Lingus was one of the main companies to do so, with a job loss to staff headcount ratio of 32 per cent. American Airlines sacked 20,000 people and British Airways cut at least 7,000 jobs.
But despite all the shrinkage there are still a lot of planes up there - the International Aviation Authority estimates there are 10,000 aircraft travelling in the world's skies at any one time, and that over 1.5 billion people travel by air every year.
The dreadful air crash over Germany recently in which 71 people died underlined the importance of correct air traffic control procedures and training. The area of sky where the accident happened, over the village of Uberlingen, is part of airspace where Germany, Austria and Switzerland meet and which has been called the "Bermuda Triangle" because of the planes crammed into it and a series of near-misses.
Near-misses in the wider European air corridors have gone up by 50 per cent in the past decade. Aviation organisations say the fragmented nature of air traffic control is partly to blame: there are an estimated 65 radar centres, and 31 different systems using 22 different computer networks. EU plans for a "single sky" policy with centralised planning and total standardisation should be agreed next year and phased in from 2004.
Events such as those over Uberlingen are mercifully rare: a more common hazard for air travellers this summer could be not getting on their flight in the first place.
Overbooking has increasingly led to passengers being "bumped" when they arrive panting at the check-in. At Stansted, a hub for Irish air travellers because it is the connecting airport for many low-cost flights, delays in flight arrivals, long queues and waits for baggage are only partially offset by delays on the outgoing flights.
At least there is some good news, with the European Parliament about to pass laws governing compensation and assistance to air passengers in case of denied boarding.
