As EBAN went to press last month, the events of September 11 were just beginning to unfold. The world stood still, watching. In offices and homes people huddled together, inseparable in their horror.

In one single morning, the Stock Exchange ceased to matter, elections became immaterial and personal worries became insignificant.

In this column, I was babbling on about economic challenges, the state of the Euro and policy reforms. What did all that matter now?

It didn’t, but in trying to pick up the pieces, we need to try to understand how these events came about and what they now mean for our industry as a whole.

Clearly, the internal mechanics of the US regional airline industry had become slack. Not slack in their ability to turn round aircraft and reach targets but slack in their ability to ensure the safety of the public.

There is no question that an individual intent on causing havoc, with no concern for his own life, will find a way of doing so. The job of airlines, the job of airports, the job of presidents and the job of prime ministers is to make that as difficult a proposition as possible.

General aviation is widely regarded by those who practise it, as the safest way to fly – you know the passengers sitting around you, the professionals around you are in general carefully vetted and you are one of few, rather than many, to be processed through security each day. But is it?

General aviation, as is pointed out in our “Industry Reaction” feature on pages 7-10, has always been based on trust. For some reason, you might take at face value the word of someone who walks around with an air of financial importance; you might not check someone’s hand luggage because they are recognisable the world over and those matters apart, surely it’s easier to fly a business aircraft into a tall building than to orchestrate the overthrowing of a passenger-laden airliner for the same purpose (particularly, now that it has been done)?

Clearly we must take heed of the warning signs. Business aviation, just like commercial aviation, must sharpen up its act. At the same time, the security measures adopted must be considered and sensible and not reactionary and rash. I am as yet unconvinced by the notion of an armed sky marshall for airline flights – If things go well, a terrorist is disarmed; if things don’t, a man with a gun is disarmed and a terrorist that much more empowered.

As it happens, I think the general aviation industry is well placed to benefit from what purports to be

an upturn in interest from the working public.

Companies are now faced with a stark choice. Carry on using the airlines, invest money in teleconferencing equipment or explore the possibilities offered by business aviation. I believe airline travel is still tremendously safe, in view of how much traffic takes to the skies each day but for some, that may not be enough. Teleconferencing enables two parties to see each other while talking but falls way short of meeting someone in the flesh.

Already, the fares of business and commercial aviation (business class) are becoming more comparable and as the industry becomes more popular, these prices will drop. Add to that all the advantages of speed, comfort and convenience, and you have yourself a good argument.

While in the coming months economies slow up, markets fall and budgets are cut, business aviation professionals may take comfort from the fact that once things begin to stabilise, theirs is an industry which can only benefit. The interest which companies like United Airlines and Virgin have already shown for the private aircraft arena, is already a clear indication of that.

Richard Evans, editor, richard.evans@gbjtv.com