Aviation's lost decade? 9/11 and beyond. Cause for optimism in the wake of 9/11 changes

The first decade of the 21st Century has been widely regarded as the US airline industry's lost decade. The reasons behind this are easy to see in the wake of the statistics issued by both the US Air Transport Association (ATA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). US airlines were certainly the most profoundly affected of all, but not all of the subsequent malaise can be attributed to 9/11. Nor has all the news been bad. Despite a large industry deficit since 2001 and the loss of many jobs, today's US airline industry is in many ways better placed than it was before 2000.