Most people remember where they were on September 11, 2001 - the date of an event that sent shock waves round the globe.

A decade on, we report on how the business community came to terms with what had happened.

Like most people, Mike Emmerich clearly remembers what he was doing when the Twin Towers were hit on the day that changed the world forever.

The chief executive of Manchester’s Commission for the New Economy, then a policy adviser to the government, was in a high profile economic meeting with the then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers.

“His private secretary interrupted the meeting to bring him a note. He read it, stood up and said ‘there has been an appalling act of terrorism in New York’, then added he was leaving and wouldn’t be coming back.

“I remember walking back to the office thinking what am I going back into, are we the next target? That’s what a lot of people thought at the time.”

The horrifying attack on September 11, 2001, stunned a world which then believed terrorist acts on such a scale were impossible.

The collapse of the iconic World Trade Center buildings, and the loss of almost 3,000 lives, caused global reverberations which are still being felt.

Immediately following the attack, the International Monetary Fund reduced the UK’s annual growth forecast from 2.4 per cent to 1.8 per cent. It actually managed just 1.6 per cent.

Greater Manchester’s regional growth figures also fell from 2.8% in 2000 to 1.3% in 2002, before rebounding with the general economy 12 months later.

It has been argued that the attack accelerated an inevitable economic downturn which quickly corrected itself but what changed for certain were people’s attitudes to security.

Mr Emmerich said: “It wasn’t like a recession where sectors were wiped out because of consumer spending falls. Apart from maybe the travel industry, the effect was more general and the economy recovered.

“The economy is wonderfully versatile, even in the depths of recession, people still find jobs.

“The real impact of 9/11 was that it was the end of a period of calm that came about after the Berlin Wall came down.

“It brought home that there were still people who wanted to kill people in prosperous places.”

Al-Qaeda’s hijacking of four planes – two crashed into the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon and a fourth in a field in Pennsylvania – led to the immediate closure of US air space.

The chaos this caused in the travel industry continued for the next year as a new fear of flying had a significant impact on the sector across the globe. The Manchester-based Co-op’s Co-operative Travel division cut expenditure on all promotional work, froze employees’ pay and in some cases cut managers’ salaries.

Trevor Davis, director of the Cooperative Travel’s retail branches, said: “I’ve been in this business 35 years and immediately knew it would affect business as people would be too scared to travel.

“It had a dramatic impact on our business.

“I remember check-in times for some long haul flights were taking as long as six hours and security surcharges went up from £7 to over £20 per person.

“As travellers we have all had to pick up the extra costs of travel and we carry on paying those costs but we also understand the importance of security.”

The impact at airports was felt overnight as new regulations were brought in to tackle the threat of further attacks. Not only were items such as nail scissors and glasses banned from flights, but airport infrastructure changed as departure and arrival lounges were segregated.

Passenger numbers fell by almost one million at Manchester Airport in 2002, the first fall in traveller figures since it opened in 1938.

The costs to the airport were huge. New scanners later introduced to detect liquids in bags cost £25m alone.

“The additional costs were in the tens of millions,” said Russell Craig, the airport’s head of communications.

“The reason why the UK can be more expensive to fly from than other countries is because it is the airports, not the government, which pay to cover mandated changes to security covering infrastructure and training, although this is not something we ever lobby against as keeping people safe is vitally important to us.”

He added: “An effect it had was that travel to the States dropped. BMI and BA began to question the viability of these routes after 9/11 and although these flights were not lost then, they did eventually go when the recession hit.

“Previously there was a lot of growth coming from America which hasn’t come back and  there has been shrinkage since.”

Although passenger numbers dropped, business did carry on, global trade continued and cargo shipments remained stable.

A raft of regulations covering the logistics industry has been introduced over the last 10 years as a direct result of 9/11.

When a toner cartridge, converted into a bomb and bound for the US, was found at East Midlands Airport last year it proved the changes were justified. Cardinal Maritime, which transports more than 375m tonnes of cargo each year, is one of just 150 UK companies now covered by the new European Authorised Economic Operator framework which has been designed to ensure safe global trade.

“We actually remain fairly unregulated as you do not need a licence or any formal qualification to work in our industry,” said Brain Hay, chief executive of the Wythenshawe-based company.

“There is now more legislation, more bureaucracy and additional cost involved, but it is now a more professional industry in order for international trade to exist.”

The travel industry and the insurance sector, which faced a $40bn bill after 9/11, were undoubtedly hurt badly.

However, a study by the Institute of Directors in 2005 showed 8% of companies actually improved profitability as a result of the tragedy, with security consultants and equipment manufacturers reporting big gains.

Kieran Maguire, a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan Business School, argues that governments have reassessed their priorities and budgets accordingly.

“The US and UK governments have made a change in the economic policy taking the view that the way to reduce the threat from terrorism is to reduce (global) poverty.

“We have seen the UK government being criticised recently for increasing its budget in this area while cutting defence.

“It marks a shift away from trying to rule the world through foreign wars.”

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