Europe 9/11 flight bookings down

British Airways has cut almost a third of its trans-Atlantic flights on the anniversary

LONDON, England -- Thousands of Europeans are choosing not to fly on the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in America.

While many airlines will continue to offer a normal trans-Atlantic service, most have noticed a fall in demand.

Reluctance to take to the air has resulted in British Airways cancelling 24 of its 78 transatlantic flights on September 11, 2002.

"Because bookings are low on several of our U.S. routes we have scrapped some flights. Passengers will be moved to other flights," a BA spokeswoman told the UK Press Association.

"It's difficult to know the exact reason for the lack of bookings, but, understandably, people are choosing not to fly on the anniversary date," she added.

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The BA cancellations include flights from Heathrow to San Francisco, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Miami and from Gatwick to Phoenix and San Diego.

BA's rival Virgin Atlantic said it planned to operate a full service on September 11.

A spokeswoman added: "Bookings on September 11 are slightly down on what we would normally expect but flights both immediately before and immediately after are fairly full. We will continue to review the situation."

American Airlines, which lost two planes in the September 11 hijackings, has yet to decide on the levels of service it will be operating on the first anniversary.

A spokesman said: "We have noticed some fall off in bookings, which is to be expected, especially among Americans.

"We have made some reductions to U.S. domestic flights but we have not made any decision about international services."

Air France said it had cancelled two round-trip long haul flights for September 11, one to New York and the other to Washington, because of "weak reservations" for the day.

British Airways and Air France said their supersonic Concordes would make scheduled flights to New York on September 11

The global airline industry suffered a major downturn in profits after passenger jets operated by United Airlines and American Airlines were used by hijackers to crash into World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Passenger confidence was understandably shattered and some airlines, including Switzerland's national carrier Swissair went bust.

But since then Europe's carriers have enjoyed a rebound in passenger confidence and bookings.

Security has also been reviewed and increased at great cost in time and money by both airlines and airports.

Spanish carrier Iberia said it had no plans to cancel any of its four daily flights to the United States on September 11.

Austrian Airlines, which flies daily between Vienna and New York as well as Washington D.C., has seen no sign of weaker demand on the anniversary of the attacks.

Dutch flag carrier KLM, though reporting softer demand, said it would probably not need to cancel flights.

"We have a slightly decreased volume in bookings on a few U.S. destinations on that specific date but at the moment there is no indication that we would have to cancel flights," a KLM spokesman said.