Remembering 9/11 … 25 years on …

It was a beautiful, early September day … Blue sky, bright sunshine … and Canadian travel suppliers were working at break-neck speed to prepare for the upcoming fall-winter product launch season.

After the summer hiatus, everything seemed to be falling nicely into place for another good year for Canada’s travel industry.

Until it wasn’t.

Twenty-five years ago, on the morning of September 11, 2001, I got a call from one of our production people shortly before 9 am, telling me that a plane (American Airlines, flight 11) had just crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.

When I got to our production department, everyone was gathered in front of the office TV, silently watching as the second plane (United, Flight 175) crashed into the World Trade Center’s South Tower just after 9 am.

As the morning unfolded, the horror continued. American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while United Airlines flight 93 – which had also been headed to the Pentagon — crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers were able to divert the plane away from its planned target.

At 9:45 am on Sept 11, 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a complete nationwide ground stop, requiring all airborne civil aircraft to land at the nearest available airport.

The FAA’s ground stop would last 2 full days.

The United States of America had been attacked by terrorists. Close to 3,000 people — aboard those flights and in those buildings — had been killed in those attacks.

The world was changed. It would never be the same again.

And that’s when we started reaching out to all of our contacts – agents, operators, airlines, hoteliers, associations – to try and put some order into the chaos.

Now, like every conversation with industry types during a time of crisis, the go-to questions are always about bookings, cancellations, the impact on business going forward and all of the things that this industry does to take care of their clients in times of a crisis.

But not on 9/11.

A senior agency group executive told me at the time: “Nobody’s thinking about business right now. This goes way beyond business. It’s the humanitarian level that’s got to be the priority.”

During the course of the day, as the world watched both towers of the World Trade Center collapse; saw the images from the Pentagon; and later of the field in Pennsylvania, the people I spoke with struggled to understand the events of the day – it was a horror that was responded to with anger, tears and incomprehension.

As another senior agency executive confided: “At one point I looked around and saw how shaken everyone was. I shut everything down and we all went to church. It had a calming effect on all of us.”

In her column later that week, Canadian Travel Press’ Editor-in-Chief, Edith Baxter captured the emotions of that time, writing angrily: “These horrendous crimes against the people of New York and Washington, against all Americans defies comprehension and the mind recoils at the thought that there are people in this world who could do such things.”

But Baxter also found solace in the heroic efforts of so many – the firefighters, police, paramedics, rescue specialists and private individuals — in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, observing: “We have seen the suffering, the anguish and desolation of those who have lost loved ones, friends, co-workers and neighbours. We have also seen New Yorkers come together en masse to help, feed, encourage and comfort each other. We hear of volunteers from across the United States, from Canada and from around the world coming to the aid of those searching for their missing friends or family members.”

She also offered comfort, writing: “May the knowledge that millions offer prayers and keep you in their thoughts assist you now and always.”

That was 25 years ago. And over the years, the promise to remember has been kept faithfully and the family members, friends and colleagues who died on September 11, 2001, are still and will always be remembered, now and forever.

So, take a moment today and say a little prayer to the memory of the 2,977 people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Say that prayer for all of them and for the people who love them.

God bless them all.