How 9/11 permanently changed air travel

How 9/11 permanently changed air travel

This Friday marks the 25-year anniversary of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States that triggered the most significant overhaul of aviation security in modern history. An RMIT expert explains.

Justin Brownjohn, Senior Manager, RMIT Aviation Academy: 

"25 years on, 9/11 remains the single largest structural change to civil aviation in its history. The industry was rebuilt from the ground up around new assumptions about who and what might be on board, and why.  

"It is worth remembering how differently aviation operated before. Families walked to the gate, identity checks were cursory, and screening was a formality rather than a system. Almost none of that survives today, and passengers under thirty have no memory of it. 

"While the most visible changes are at the airport, the most consequential one is the door that turned the cockpit from once a part of the aircraft into a separate secure zone. Every security procedure written since revolved around controlling the entrance to that door: opening procedures, door codes, crew clearances, and monitoring before opening. 

"The loss most felt inside the profession is smaller and rarely discussed. A generation of pilots and aviation workers trace their career beginnings to being invited onto the flight deck as a child - the captain turning around, the instruments, the wings pinned on afterwards. That door is now closed, permanently, and doubly secure. 

"The US Federal Aviation Administration has just mandated that all newly delivered aircraft to US carriers must have two locked flight deck doors to ensure security while a pilot uses the washroom.  

"Regulators in Australia are yet to move but given our general alignment with global aviation safety protocols, there's an argument to be made that Australia could mandate the same in the future." 

Justin Brownjohn is the Senior Manager of the RMIT University Aviation Academy. He has over 20 years of aviation industry experience across Australia, Asia and the Middle East with a focus on network operations delivery and commercial decision making.

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General media enquiries: RMIT External Affairs and Media, 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au

10 September 2026

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10 September 2026

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