SEPTEMBER 11 2001, changed the world forever. Air travel along with other aspects of everyday life have continued but will they ever be the same again? In the first of three reports looking at New York at the end of the most traumatic year in its history. Lancashire EveningTelegraph reporter DAVID HIGGERSON describes the changed attitudes to trans-Atlantic flight --and the reaction of people in the Big Apple to tourists. I HALF-EXPECTED to be alone on British Airways flight 1305 from Manchester.

But while the plane might have been nearly full, there was still a certain edginess about flying to the Big Apple.

And the fact that the first show on the in flight entertainment was a BBC bulletin talking about finding maps in a den of Osama bin Laden's along with details for incendiary devices, ensured that no-one could ignore the events of the past three months. (It didn't help either that I was watching the pictures having tuned into the wrong audio setting to go with it so what I was actually hearing was a dramatic classical music overture).

Travel agents across East Lancashire have said trade is reasonable for Trans-atlantic flights and deals given the circumstances.

Although no-one from East Lancashire is believed to have died in the Twin Towers, the area has felt the effects, with job losses at aerospace firms and restrictions at places like Althams travel agents.

And so it proved on arrival at Manchester Airport. Instead of the usual two checks of the passport, mine was studied no fewer than six times.

There were also selective body searches for people as they boarded the flight -- and I was one of the chosen few. Apologetic the staff may have been, but the mere fact checks were being carried out served to create a nervous tension on the plane. Everyone on board knew we were flying just over three months after the World Trade Centre disaster, and a month exactly after the Queens plane crash.

And the fact that the normal steel cutlery inside Terminal Three at Manchester has been replaced with plastic knives and forks incapable of cutting through a sausage let alone being used to hold up a plane didn't go un-noticed either.

In years gone by, I dare say, talk would have been of the Empire State Building or shopping on Fifth Avenue.

Not now, because regardless of the arrogant attitude people show towards flying -- you can't help but think that there is something more lottery-like about getting on a plane.

Given all that, take-off was a relatively smooth affair, although I am pretty sure most people paid slightly more attention to the safety video. The people on the flight varied from an old couple going on holiday through businessmen and families to a group of three lads from Manchester going stateside to look for work. Once in the air, the tension seemed to fall away, apart from when we reached that moment when the engines suddenly go quiet as the plane reaches a high altitude. I am sure I was not the only one to have thought 'is this normal?'

Much as it would make a great tale to say we all sat there in trembling silence waiting for the slightest thing to go wrong, I would be making it up. As my fellow-passenger, East Lancashire exile Dave Heaney (CORR)put it, things were returning to normal.

Dave, now of Wigan, said: "I commute to New York around six times a year and have been three times since September 11. Things were jumpy at first but people don't seem so bothered now."

The plane was littered with complimentary copies of TIME magazine -- no prizes for guessing what their cover story was all about.

Perhaps the whole experience of flying post September 11-- especially to America -- was summed up when the plane's seatbelt lights flashed on, with no explanation from the captain. This had happened twice before -- but each time we had been warned that turbulence was ahead. The cabin crew insisted everything was fine, but I wasn't the only one to concur that they seemed to be protesting a little too much.

As the plane bounced around through the clouds -- it was turbulence after all -- the little girl sitting behind me turned to an old couple she had become acquainted with by asking them the time every five minutes and said: "My friend said my plane would blow up."

We were all thinking it -- and the collective sigh of relief and ripple of applause when we landed safely at JFK shortly before midday US time seemed to sum up the whole trip.

Even the normally moody New Yorkers working on the customs desk and the taxi driver wished me a 'nice stay' and thanked me for visiting their city.

Flying isn't want it used to be ... and won't be for quite a while.