20 Years After 9-11: A Stronger Airline Industry?

The horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001, changed the world and dramatically altered the course of the aviation industry—and in many ways prepared it for the future, experts say.

Experts and industry insiders said the attacks on Sept. 11 exposed the shaky economics of an aviation system with a lot of capacity and, in some cases, unsustainably high costs.

“What 9-11 did was ensure that the industry had to change the way it does business,” said Bill Swelbar, chief industry analyst at Swelbar-Zhong Consultancy. “All of a sudden, yes, we accelerated to have lots of bankruptcy and consolidation, but it became a business.”

Indeed, the changes forced by the terrorist attacks put the industry on stronger financial footing and helped it survive the Great Recession of 2008 and the calamitous shutdown caused by COVID-19.

Twenty years ago, the airlines had unsteady balance sheets and little ability to borrow, Swelbar said.

“It’s just a very different day today. If we had gone into COVID with the balance sheets in place on Sept. 10, 2001, there might be one or two airlines alive.”

Piling up losses

Directly following 2001, net income from U.S. domestic carriers plummeted by an estimated $9.1 billion from the previous year, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Losses totaled about $40 billion between 2001 and 2005, and profitability wasn’t restored until 2006 and 2007. High o