I totally agree there were maroeconomic effects on the Airline industry.
Unfortunately the WTC disaster has maximised this effects and has caused a severe "shock". This shock will not last forever, and hopes have to be kept.
I remember discussing this with my economics lecture at Uni, after he realised I wanted to become a pilot.
After the Gulf war he was asked to speak at a seminar on the Economic effects on Oil, airlines industry etc.
Apparently lots of economists were all doom and gloom an era of high oil prices, the end of the aviation industry as we know it. Will they ever recover.
As we know the Airline industry did recover, oil prices did fall, considerably quicker than these top economists thought. New Airlines appeared, and the industry boomed. This will happen again, the problem is when will it happen? It could be next year, 2 years even 5 years. Lets hope it is asap.
It is just shame that the minute I graduated, and probably everyone else on the board the industry is experiencing a slump. As a wannabe, it is the pilots that we should be thinking of, their jobs are on the line. Yes we want to join the industry, but as soon as the industry goes back nearer to full employment, and the need for more pilots the better for all of us.
Sagey