As British airports struggled to return to normal after last week's dramatic terror alert, the travel and airline industries have begun counting the cost of the delays and cancellations that followed the allegations of a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners.
Almost 2,500 flights were cancelled at London's three principal airports since when revelations about the scheme plunged air travel in Britain into chaos and triggered a security clampdown across the global aviation sector.
The sense of upheaval, which followed the news that British police were holding more than 20 suspects in connection with the plot, is estimated to have cost major British carriers alone about 475 million dollars.
While industry draws up battle plans for business travellers to cope with a new era of strict airport security, the prospects of airlines facing an additional cost burden has raised questions about the future of Europe's budget airlines, which have emerged as major competitors to scheduled carriers.
Airline shares might have pulled back from the lows they hit last week following concerns about the impact on the air travel business of new security regulations in the wake of news of the alleged plan to attack aircraft flying between Britain and the US.
But the new terror alarm and the moves to dramatically beef up airport and airline security comes at a time when the aviation business has been battling intense competition, soaring fuel prices and a recent round of scares from terrorism through to bird flu. In particular, this is the case as the claims that terrorists were planning to take out up to 10 aircraft on the trans-Atlantic route emerged in the middle of the European summer holiday season. The lead many airline travellers to swap to rival means of transport, such as the Eurostar between London and continental Europe.
In a radio interview, Michael O'Leary, the chief of Europe's leading budget airline, Ryanair Holdings PLC, described the fall-out from the terror scare as "almost the breakdown of the London airports."
Meanwhile, the airlines have been forced to foot the hotel bill for passengers left stranded by the security scare as well as to refund tickets and even pay compensation to travellers for cancelled flights. Furthermore, both the airport authorities and the airlines are likely to face an increased expense of training staff to deal with the new security measures.
In the long term, analysts also say the risk for the airline business is that travellers will be put off flying by the tough security measures and the threat of long queues and more specially avoid the various airlines that appear to have become likely terrorist targets.
In the meantime, regular business travellers have been trying to weigh up the cost of the round of new security measures that are likely to place new restrictions on cabin bags and involve longer waits at check-in and for the immediate future, possibly even retrieving baggage. British Airways alone is currently attempting to clear a backlog in Britain of about 20,000 checked-in pieces of luggage. As gridlock descended on British airports the airline was forced to hire trucks to cargo baggage around Europe.
British Airways said it is now considering legal action against British airport operator BAA plc for lost earnings, estimated at about 95 million dollars. In addition, for companies jetting their executives around the world, the extensive airport security checks and risks of enormous delays means that the period of time and consequently costs for business trips may have to be increased.
-DPA
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