From hours at security to bulletproof cockpits: How 9/11 changed air travel

What the report says

Al Jazeera says the 9/11 attacks reshaped global air travel by triggering sweeping new security rules that remain familiar to passengers today. The article recounts how four hijacked planes were used in the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people and led to an immediate grounding of U.S. air traffic and airport closures or disruptions in other countries.

The report says the biggest change came with the U.S. Aviation and Transportation Security Act, signed in November 2001, which created the Transportation Security Administration and required federal screening of passengers and baggage. It also notes the expansion of armed air marshals, reinforced and locked cockpit doors, bans on knives and box cutters in carry-on bags, and later measures such as shoe screening, liquid limits, full-body scanners, biometric boarding trials and electronics checks. Similar cockpit-security standards were adopted in other countries as well.

Al Jazeera adds that the added checks lengthened airport processing times and initially reduced travel demand in North America, though passenger numbers later recovered and surpassed pre-9/11 levels. The article also places some measures in a broader security context, citing later foiled plots involving shoe explosives, liquid explosives and hidden devices as reasons authorities tightened screening further.

The piece argues that while some rules have been eased over time, the post-9/11 model of aviation security has become a permanent feature of commercial flying worldwide.