Air passenger volume plunges on 9/11

Airlines noted a sharp drop in the number of passengers taking off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday, airport officials said on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington last year.

Ground personnel of Phi-lippine Airlines (PAL) lamented that each of their two Boeing 747 jets that left for the United States yesterday afternoon carried only about half of their 450-passenger capacities.

It was no different for other airlines. American carrier Northwest Airlines reported only 250 passengers for two flights while Japan Airlines reported the same number of passengers. There were only 70 passengers for two Air Micronesia flights, 50 for China Airlines and less than 50 for an Eva Air flight.

Even commercial flights to European and Middle Eastern countries registered a drop in passenger volume.

The uniform explanation was that people did not want to fly on Sept. 11, especially to the United States, for fear of suffering the fate of the passengers of the commercial planes that terrorists hijacked and smashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. A fourth plane crashed into an open field in Pennsylvania.

Records showed that US carriers were the most affected by public fear of flying as the anniversary of the terror attacks approached.

Northwest and other US airlines flying out of Manila showed a marked decline in passenger traffic.

Although the three daily Northwest flights are usually fully booked, most of the passengers disembark in Japan. And most of them are either returning Japanese or Filipinos who will work in Japan.

Officials said most passengers prefer taking other airlines in going to the US because they are inconvenienced by strict security measures imposed by Northwest on its passengers and luggage.

US Immigration and Naturalization Service agents are deployed at the immigration departure areas at the NAIA and at the airline counters checking on travel documents of passengers bound for the US.

Questions asked of Northwest passengers range from who packed their luggage, to what their purpose is in going to the US. Security is already very strict even at the check-in counters.