Why was there no airport security before 9 11?

Before 9/11, airport security was outsourced to private contractors and was much less stringent than TSA's current standards. Travelers passed through metal detectors, and friends and family could accompany them to the gate, delaying hugs and goodbyes to the last possible moment.



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Four airliners were turned into weapons of mass destruction on 9/11; a fifth may have been targeted.

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How long the COVID-19 measures will need to stay in place remains to be seen. However, the security measures adopted after 9/11 have proved permanent enough that they have become incorporated into recent airport terminal renovations.

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Fewer people normally fly on Tuesdays “In the years immediately following 9/11, air travel always significantly dipped on September 11,” wrote Mike McCarron, a spokesman for San Francisco International Airport, in an e-mail.

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Their rescue was later portrayed in the Oliver Stone film, World Trade Center. In total, twenty survivors were pulled out of the rubble. The final survivor, Port Authority secretary Genelle Guzman-McMillan, was rescued 27 hours after the collapse of the North Tower.

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On Sept. 11, 2001, 343 firefighters and paramedics were killed, most when the towers collapsed. Now, an equal number have died from 9/11-related illnesses, the FDNY says.

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The WTC is New York's most lethal construction project, with 60 fatalities. However, the Brooklyn Bridge is NYC's deadliest if you adjust for project size. Its death rate is twice as high as the WTC – 50 fatalities per thousand workers compared to 17.14.

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We know that Flight 93 was destined for Washington D.C. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, at 9:55 am, the terrorist pilot Ziad Jarrah dialed in the frequency for the navigational aid at Washington Reagan National Airport, clearly indicating that the attack was planned for the nation's capital.

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But falling fares in the 1970s allowed many more people to fly and undermined the exclusivity of jet travel. Sweeping cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s reshaped the airline industry. More people began to fly, and air travel became less exclusive. Between 1955 and 1972, passenger numbers more than quadrupled.

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