The Impact of Terrorism on Aviation Security: A Look at 9/11 and its Aftermath

In this report we will discuss about aviation management and below are the summaries point:- Terrorism has significantly impacted the aviation industry, leading to concerns over aviation security. The 9/11 terrorist attacks were a turning point for aviation security, highlighting the need for improvements. The aviation industry is a target for terrorists because it creates a powerful political statement and generates fear.

AVIATION
MANAGEMENT

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An act of terrorism that shaped the aviation security
Terrorism has taken deep roots in the society and it has affected almost all the industry in its
performance but Aviation Industry has been highly targeted by the terrorists in the past.
Aviation is an industry that has higher political impact as it is one of the biggest supporters of
globalisation. This has raised the concerns related to aviation security (Stewart & Mueller,
2014). There has been a long history of terrorist activities where they hijacked airplanes so as
to blackmail the government and fulfil their demands. Sometimes they have exploded the
airplanes so as to create fear in the minds of people. 9/11 was a terrorist incident that shocked
the world and it is one of the biggest terrorist activities that happened throughout the world
(Bhattacharya & Mainiero, 2009). There was a long term planning of the terrorist group Al-
Qaeda which made this activity to happen. After researches showed that there were many
structural and procedural defaults present in the aviation security that led to the event of 9/11.
Prior to this event, terrorism was considered to be as the regional problem and the developed
nations were highly ensured that nothing such could happen to them. After this incident
companies understood that there is a dire need of improving the aviation security.
There is no universally accepted definition of terrorism. Different researchers have given
different definitions of terrorism. Most of the definitions states terrorism as an unlawful use
of intimidation and violence against the civilians so as to achieve some kind of political
goals. While the definition of security states that it is a measure that is taken by the
individuals, governments or organisations so as to protect and safeguard everyone from any
kind of threat. It is also understood to be as the state of being free from any type of fear or
threat (Fox, 2014).
The major reason for choosing the aviation industry for any kind of terrorist attack is that it
creates a bigger political statement than anything thing else. It creates fear that is
unmatchable. Being a powerful tool in the political diaspora, it attracts terrorists so as to
make it a target. After 9/11 incident people in different parts of the world stopped travelling
from planes. It was the fear that was created by this attack. For stabilising the aviation

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industry, American government had to put $4.6 billion in the industry. The attack created
more buzz as it was an attack on one of the biggest super powers in world both economically
and politically. This attack was done on the United States by the Islamic group named Al-
Qaeda. It killed approximately 3000 people and other 6000 were injured due to this attack
(Goll & Rasheed, 2011). The economic damage that is created by this attack was approx. $10
billion. For conducting these attack four passenger airlines of the two big companies (United
Airlines and American Airlines) from United States were used. Both these planes were
hijacked shortly after they took their flight. Two of the aircrafts named American Airlines
Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were intentionally crashed in the north and south
buildings of World Trade centre complex which after the crash collapsed in just few hours.
Another plane American Airlines Flight 77 was crashed in Pentagon. Last the fourth plane,
United Airlines Flight 93 took the route towards Washington D.C. but crashed in the field in
Stonycreek Township near Shanks Ville, Pennsylvania.
After the attack numerous initiatives and investments were taken by both the players of the
industry and the government in different parts of the world so as to enhance the airport
security. Higher level security check points were created along with the help of different
types of technologies (Peterson, 2016). These technologies were capable of doing the full
body scan of the people and their luggage. Major improvements were done in the domestic
airports apart from the improvements in the international airports. Prior to this attack
domestic airport were not so much under guidelines. Heavy need of advanced technologies
was understood from the side of the aviation so as to strengthen the security at the airports.
Machine readable documents started to get in use. A person who has any kind of criminal
records is not given Visa. The full body scan was needed at the airports which were
previously not installed as it was considered to be against the privacy of the individuals and
was considered as the breach of the civil liberties. After the incident took place civil liberty
was weakened in the case of security reasons (Rodrigues, Cusick & Cusick, 2012). Some of
the pilots have been given training about the use of weapons so that they protect themselves
in case of emergency.
Security changes have also been done in terms of the fact that security within the plane has
also been increased. Prior to 9/11, people had easy access to the cockpits and hence plane
hijacking was easy. After the incidents changes were done in the cockpit doors so that once it
is locked nobody could enter into cockpit (Schóber, Koblen & Szabo, 2012). There was
heavy pilot training given to the terrorists for conducting 9/11 attack and no security agencies

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ever thought that training could be given. After 9/11 the flying schools have been given
instructions so as to have a look at any suspicious activity. Due to this increased supervision
20th Hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui got caught in the Flight school Minnesota. It is also noted
that the flights that were chosen used a coastline route so as to avoid the security. This is due
to the fact coastline region did not had high level of security. After this incident the security
in the coastline region was also enhanced. This helped in tracking any unknown flights in the
region and hence information security official in case of any suspicion (Thomas, 2003). It
was noted that there was fault in the security proceedings at Boston Logan Airport. Nine of
the hijackers from the team were detained for additional security screening in which six was
for computerised screening system and others were for documentation reason (Poole, 2009).
Still they were passed as the FAA security protocols were not so strong. Checking was only
done for the luggage and there was no checking for the box clutters or any type of carriers.
After the attack took place rules and regulations were made strict regarding security check
procedures and checking at every level before giving them permission to carry on with the
flight. Security policies were made strict throughout the world so that enhance security. No
leverage is now given to the people on the basis of customary practices. Sikhs and Muslims
wearing turban and Burkha respectively were also not allowed without proper checking.
Shoes are also removed now for checking and there is a recent prohibition on carrying any
kind of liquids. Lighters, Cigarettes and other inflammable substances are also not allowed to
carry while travelling. In America a secure flight program was launched that aimed at
maintaining the balance among their security and the passenger’s rights (Thomas, 2011).
Finger prints and Biometric scanners were placed at the airports to do exact identification of
the individuals. Without proper inquiry about the documentation no body is cleared for taking
flights.
The German Intelligence unit warned American Intelligence unit about such incidents as they
had the input that any Middle East Terrorists groups were planning to do hijacking of the
planes, but proper investigation on such inputs were not done. Things changed after the attack
as now even the slightest of inputs are evaluated carefully and this is the reason that no any
such major incidents took place in America (Stewart & Mueller, 2013). ICAO has made new
rules and guidelines for security as they made amendments to Annex 17. This allows them in
sharing the information and doing higher amount of screening at the airports. Previously
companies were not investing money on the locking system of Cockpit as it was costly but
after the attack companies were compelled to do so. Things also changed in terms of

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authorities who checked security as previously the security was checked by airport authority
and company’s security while after the attack federal government took the responsibility of
maintaining the security. The numbers of security personnel at the airports have been
increased. Large numbers of cameras were installed at each airport so as to check any
incident at the airport. This was done by improving the surveillance capability of the US
government. Governments throughout the world are sharing data with each other in case of
any inputs received about any suspicious activity (Stewart & Mueller, 2013). In case of any
prank calls, proper investigations about the calls have been before allowing the flights to take
on. New ties ups between the airport company and the security company are being done so as
to ensure that at the firm level also security gets tightened up. More radar was installed at the
airports so as to check that if any unknown flights are flying in their air zone or not. Rules
have also been made in terms of fact that people are said to come bit early for doing security
check-ups.

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