Airline execs recall how they navigated 9/11 and plunge in air travel demand after the attacks

Airline execs recall how they navigated 9/11 and plunge in air travel demand after the attacks CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS MONTREAL THE CANADIAN PRESS PUBLISHED 15 HOURS AGO Open this photo in gallery: Air Canada’s then-executive vice-president Calin Rovinescu says 'the world was changing before my eyes, and the people around me had no clue what was about to happen.' DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Calin Rovinescu was strolling through an art museum in Barcelona on a wedding anniversary getaway when he heard the news. In a pair of phone calls, his assistant told him planes had just struck the twin towers in New York City. “I was looking at Picasso’s unique, surrealistic art … as I was hearing a surrealistic story,” Air Canada’s then-executive vice-president recalled. Rovinescu, who would go on to become CEO, remembers scrambling to find a quiet place to dial into an emergency meeting of Air Canada executives, rushing into the street and through the doors of a café. “The world was changing before my eyes, and the people around me had no clue what was about to happen,” he said. The attacks and the plunge in air travel that followed forced a frenzy of tough choices among aviation and government leaders in the days and weeks afterward, as Sept. 11 pushed some airlines to the brink and beyond, reshaping Canada’s aviation landscape. Canadian journalists reflect on the triumphs, regrets and lessons learned covering 9/11 Leading the call with Rovinescu was then-chief executive Robert Milton, who had just woken up from a nap in London after catching a redeye flight from Montreal. Receiving special clearance from the Canadian, U.S. and U.K. governments, Milton managed to fly back to Canada the day after the tragedy alongside Rovinescu, who’d hopped over to London from Spain. European airspace remained open. “I remember being on the flight deck with the crew,” Milton said of the voyage, taken in a Bombardier Challenger business jet loaned last-minute by that company’s CEO. Air Canada’s 300-plus planes were grounded. “It was truly eerie because there was no radio communication at all, whereas normally there’d be an armada of aircraft crossing the Atlantic in both directions. The chatter was non-existent.” Then-Air Canada CEO Robert Milton recalls the surreal sense of uncertainty he and his colleagues faced that day, as well…