‘Normal’ Travel Not on Horizon

New security regulations and problems created by planes and air crews scattered at remote airports could delay the return of normal air travel indefinitely, aviation experts said Wednesday.

Once airports are reopened, curbside check-ins are expected to be eliminated, lengthening the lines at the ticket counters. Passenger and baggage screening will be more rigorous, slowing the movement through security checkpoints. Electronic tickets will no longer be acceptable. Families and friends accompanying travelers will no longer be allowed past security checkpoints. No cutting instruments--from pen knives to razors--will be permitted on board.

“It’s going to be a mess,” said Michael O’Rourke, an aviation safety consultant and former government air traffic control specialist.

The two-day shutdown of commercial aviation after Tuesday’s terrorist attacks forced jetliners to divert to airports strewn from Honolulu to Halifax, Canada. The shutdown’s ripple effect grounded almost half the commercial flights throughout the world.

“Getting that fixed--getting all those planes and pilots to the right places--will take at least 72 hours,” O’Rourke said.

These delays will be compounded by the new safety regulations being implemented as a result of the attacks. Other anticipated changes include more federal marshals on aircraft, enhanced screening of passengers and inspection of baggage, temporary elimination of mail or cargo on any passenger aircraft, and mandatory searches of all aircraft before passengers board.

“These changes could last a week or forever,” said Ron Wilson, a spokesman for San Francisco International Airport. “But the face of aviation will never go back to the way it was before yesterday.”

When Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta gives the go-ahead to resume flights, probably early today, top priority will go to the diverted flights, many of which were stranded at airports in out-of-the-way places like Moline, Ill., and Gwinn, Mich. These flights will be the first to take off, continuing on to their original destinations.

The next planes into the air will be ferrying flights, delivering empty planes and air crews to the airports where they are most needed.

After that, there will be more problems, according to O’Rourke and Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

They said passengers rushing to airports--most of them lacking updated tickets and unsure of which flights can take them--probably will jam the airport roads, parking lots and ticketing lines.

“The airlines will have to develop some kind of pecking order, decide who goes first,” Goelz said.

After ticketing and security checks, passengers at the boarding gates could be confronted by more delays.

“The planes all want to depart right away, but runway and air traffic control limitations mean only a set number of planes can leave an airport in a given time,” said O’Rourke, a former FAA controller and National Transportation Safety Board air crash investigator.

General aviation aircraft are expected to receive a lower priority than commercial planes.

The American Automobile Assn.--which runs the country’s largest leisure travel agency--recommended that passengers arrive at airports two hours ahead of departure time for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights.

Restarting the nation’s air travel system was pushed back Wednesday because of concerns that the new security systems were not in place and working.

Although many airport workers returned to their jobs Wednesday, many had to undergo last-minute training to acquaint them with the new security procedures.

Throughout the world, airports and airlines were engaged in a monumental hunkering down on Wednesday.

At Boston’s Logan International Airport, officials said they had to tow 9,000 vehicles away from terminal areas for security reasons. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport, a new concrete barrier was erected in front of the main terminal and police with guard dogs patrolled the area.

All told, about 4,500 of the world’s 12,000 commercial aircraft were grounded in and near the United States on Wednesday, according to William Gaillard, spokesman for the International Air Transport Assn. in Geneva. About 30,000 passengers from diverted flights were stranded in Canada.

In Great Britain, police carrying automatic weapons guarded the entrance to Heathrow, the world’s busiest airport. Officers in bulletproof vests began to evacuate one of the arrival terminals after unattended bags were spotted. They halted the exodus when the owner of the luggage showed up.

“Probably any ally of the United States has that little bit of fear in him right now,” said James Hogan, a 39-year-old cook who was trying to return from London to Canada.

At Heathrow, where officials were struggling to find hotel rooms for thousands of travelers, U.S.-bound flights were not expected to resume for days.

Delays were increased by the British government’s decision to route passenger planes away from the airspace over central London and by intense security measures that included searching carry-on bags and frisking passengers.

Police roadblocks were set up at entrances to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and cars were stopped for spot-checks.

“At the moment I feel safe [because] there are so many police around,” said Natascia Poletta, an Italian traveler on her way to Frankfurt, Germany.

An eerie calm prevailed at Frankfurt International Airport, where security has been tight since the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 disaster over Lockerbie, Scotland, caused by a bomb loaded in Frankfurt.

“Airline counters are staffed but there are no customers at them. It’s all a bit frightening,” said airport spokesman Klaus Busch.

Within an hour after the first plane hit the World Trade Center on Tuesday, Japan put its airports on the highest security alert--a designation that had only been seen during the 1989 funeral of Emperor Hirohito and the ascension to the throne of current Emperor Akihito the next year.

Tokyo’s Narita reported 176 canceled commercial and cargo flights. In Shanghai, officials said that all U.S.-bound flights were canceled until at least Saturday.

Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel coalition, based near Philadelphia, said an informal survey of 187 corporate travel departments showed that 88% expect employees to be less eager to travel and that 56% have suffered a “very significant” loss of confidence in the security of the U.S. aviation system.

“The outlook is cloudy,” said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Assn. in Washington. “We have to add ‘terrorist anxiety’ to the other concerns that people have about flying.”

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Times staff writers Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar in Washington and Valerie Reitman in Tokyo and special correspondents Maria De Cristofaro in Rome and Reane Opplin Bonn contributed to this report.