THE image of planes slamming into the World Trade Centre on that fateful day in September was one that immediately etched itself on the world's conscious.

The aftermath of those New York attacks, and the attack on the Pentagon, in Washington, saw a dramatic downturn in the aviation industry across the globe.

Jobs were slashed as airlines and holiday operators struggled to cope with the massive loss of business. Three airlines actually went bust as a direct result of the September 11 attacks -- including US Airways, which was the sixth biggest in America.

In Lancashire hundreds of jobs were shed.

In the days after the attacks, the East Lancashire-founded travel operator Airtours warned of impending job losses. Speaking just weeks after, chief executive Tim Byrne estimated the attacks cost the business £10million which included the expense of getting staff and holidaymakers out of the US and having to ground a number of planes when American airspace was temporarily closed.

Across the group the company -- which schedules flights to Florida and Las Vegas -- cut 1,600 -- the bulk of those coming after and as a result of September 11.

A spokesman said: "The travel industry as a whole was affected, there was a huge question mark about what was going to happen.

"It was very uncertain up until Christmas last year but we have bounced back."

The holiday industry as a whole took a battering as confidence in flying plunged. For the first time in recent years, the industry recorded a loss in the percentage of people flying.

Within three days of the attacks American airline firms had halted 79 per cent of its flights. Worldwide that figure was 19 per cent.

According to figures from the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), the number of flights out of the UK this summer was down around eight per cent on last year. Before September 11 industry experts were predicting another rise as had been happening year-on-year.

Shaun Tipton, of ABTA, said: "The aviation industry was badly effected. Without exception, companies shed jobs as their profits were slashed. Across the world 70,000 jobs were lost because of September 11."

Mr Tipton said flights to America from the UK are still down some 15 per cent. He added: "It was obviously bad but it could have been a lot worse. Slowly confidence is returning to holiday makers and figures should begin to rise." More locally, and tourism chiefs in East Lancashire have struggled to work out whether September 11 affected their takings at all.

Already crippled by foot and mouth in many areas, takings were already down for the year. Only by the end of this year will they be able to see if people are opting to stay at home rather than fly away.

For travel agents, the last 12 months have been a rollercoaster. A dramatic fall in bookings -- somewhere in the region of 40 per cent -- following September 11 led to staff at East Lancashire-based Althams having their hours reduced until January this year.

Bookings have picked up since, as another East Lancashire firm, Fraser Eagle, confirmed.

A spokesman for the Accrington-based firm said: "Fraser Eagle Worldchoice, like the rest of the industry, was hit hard. October was probably our worst month ever but in January some shops had sales up 60 per cent."

For the aerospace industry, the future remains uncertain. Firms across the area suffered as a result of Boeing laying off 31,000 staff and reducing production of aircraft following September 11. Contracts were cancelled, and even BAE Systems, which employs 10,000, warned it could not predict the effect of the terror attacks.

September 11th news archive...