Business travel around the globe is in a holding pattern as organizations assess when – if ever – air travel will return to normal.

With safety being travellers’ top priority since the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the U.S., ramped-up security has meant huge hassles for time-sensitive corporate types.

Lengthy queues, the lack of curbside check-in, restricted travel within airports and laborious searches help to explain why business travel on most airlines is down 60 per cent from a year ago.

But the downward trend had begun 12 months before Sept. 11, according to airline analyst Jacques Kavafian of Yorkton Securities in Toronto.

“The slide in business travel began right after Labour Day of 2000, and was just exacerbated by Sept. 11,” said Kavafian.

Air Canada photo
Air Canada's new discount flyer, Tango, launches this week.

He doesn’t expect business travel to pick up until spring 2002, with a prediction that all travel will “return to normal” by next summer.

“We don’t have a precise number on the drop in business travel, per se, due to the events of Sept. 11, all we know is that overall air traffic has dropped some 25 per cent,” he said.

But some market studies say that, mentally, business travellers are ready to take to the skies again.

According to an Oct. 16 survey by Yesawich, Pepperdine and Brown, 81 per cent of travellers said their plans will not be influenced by the events of Sept. 11. The poll of 800 travellers showed a jump from a Sept. 12 survey in which 67 per cent of business travellers said they wouldn’t be deterred by terrorist activities.

Adding to the obvious airport hassles is the sheer uncertainty of the travel industry – which is down some 190,000 jobs worldwide since Sept. 11.

All in six weeks, airlines Ansett and Midwest, cruise lines Renaissance and American Classic Voyages and operators Super Natural Vacations have ceased to exist.

Air Canada and Canada 3000 have been knocking on the door of government for more support, stating the $160-million federal bailout in early October – in which Air Canada received $100 million and Canada 3000 got $7.4 million – was not enough.

Canada 3000 claimed that without more assistance, it could run of cash by Christmas. The federal government re-sponded last week by providing the struggling airline with a loan guarantee of up to $75 million to help it deal with cash -flow problems.

Transport Minister David Collenette said the repercussions of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on this country’s second-largest airline has led to a short-term cash crunch.

“It is important that we preserve the competition in the airline industry that was developing strongly before the tragic events of Sept. 11,” Collenette said.

The government has set conditions for assistance, including having Canada 3000 demonstrate that it can return to profitability based on a plan involving the private sector. Canada 3000 is also implementing an aggressive restructuring plan which includes increased shareholder investment, pay cuts and staff reductions.

Passenger traffic aboard Calgary-based WestJet has softened since Sept. 11’s terrorist attacks in the U.S., but the carrier says it is still “very pleased” with how it’s fared during turbulent times.

“We are very pleased with our load factor for September, considering the tragic events of Sept. 11,” WestJet president and CEO Clive Beddoe said in a statement. “However, this event and its ongoing implications has had a depressing effect on our yield,” he noted.

The no-frills airline hasn’t followed the lead of other major carriers, which have responded to a sharp drop in passenger numbers by cutting capacity and announcing massive layoffs.

Last week, the federal government lifted the 15-per-cent individual ownership restriction on Air Canada, clearing the way for a possible takeover of the debt-ridden national carrier.

Other changes in the skies seem almost contradictory. Last month, Canada 3000 went ahead with a new Toronto-Delhi route, while other airlines had quietly tanked those plans.

WestJet has also started a new route – weekly non-stop service between Kelowna, B.C., and Hamilton, Ont.

And this week, Air Canada launches its latest endeavour, a new discount brand called Tango. This low-risk venture wouldn’t have had an impact on business travellers a year ago, but this is no ordinary year.

Adds Air Canada spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade: “The business traveller who’s prepared to look at Tango as a new option is a little different than your classic business traveller.

“We see this niche as young executives – perhaps of a dot-com company – who are more contemporary and have been given a ceiling on expenses. They want a choice and don’t mind picking up a newspaper and a hot meal before boarding.”

But Canada 3000 president Angus Kinnear is crying foul, and is asking the federal Competition Bureau to look at Tango “and declare it illegal.”

Air Canada expects its low-cost western equivalent of Tango to roll out by the end of this year and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Canada, with its own name and brand. But it will offer even fewer frills than Tango.

Sectors in the throttled travel industry that are seeing a slight increase due to the terrorist events are corporate jet companies such as Calgary-based Corporate Express and VIA Rail, which connects Montreal with Toronto and Ottawa.

Says Kavafian: “Bookings in these areas may have increased but in the world of business travel these fringes still amount to peanuts . . . next to commercial flights.”

(Debra Cummings is Travel Editor for Tripeze.com, a Calgary online travel company.)