As with the foot-and-mouth epidemic, the Government’s reaction to a difficult set of circumstances is wreaking further havoc on travel and tourism, an industry that is already weak.”It’s a beautiful day for flying,” announces Captain Robert Mead, as he prepares the Airbus A319 for departure. BA flight 908 is reasonably full; about three-quarters of the seats are occupied. Around 80 per cent of the passengers are male, half of them wearing suits, and all of them looked after by four cabin crew, including Jane Perris. She graduated in business management from Leeds University three years ago, and sums up the addiction that keeps many people in the aviation industry “I love flying I love meeting people from all cultures, all backgrounds That’s what makes it special. No two days are the same.”I grab a word with Captain Robert Mead on the flight deck, who is concerned that the passengers on whom his job depends have misconceptions about the risks of travel.

“As far as security is concerned, still by far the most dangerous thing is actually getting to the airport. You’re perfectly safe on board any aircraft.” Jane Perris meanwhile, is calming the nerves of two gentlemen in row 10 with the help of a couple of large Bloody Marys (“They won’t necessarily be full strength,” she confides).All aboard for the white-knuckle ride. I have not flown from Heathrow since the terror alert, complete with lurid descriptions of how a surface-to-air missile on the airport perimeter could bring down an aircraft. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I am sure the cabin is quieter than usual, and the passengers less relaxed as we wait for our take-off slot. “The time to worry is when we look worried,” says Perris.At least two Americans are on the passenger list today Indeed, BA 908 has two captains aboard.

Apart from the one on the flight deck, sitting in the economy cabin is US Army Captain Chris Ayers, who is flying back to his base with his wife Jessica “Flying is still safe Incidents here and there The press makes a lot of an incident. If something’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.”The same fatalistic outlook is shared by the stewardess Jane Perris: “My attitude is that things can happen any time, at any place.” And if her Bloody Marys don’t cheer up the businessmen in row 10, Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, has something to say that might do the trick: “Even if a war breaks out, our response will be to lower prices and keep people flying.” As Ryanair is sitting on cash reserves of £1bn – while BA has double that amount salted away – this doesn’t seem an unlikely story. So whether or not you feel safe flying in the next month or two, you should feel smug: never has there been a better time to find a cheap flight.Seven minutes late, BA 908 pulls up to at gate at Frankfurt airport. Terminal Two is a voluminous cathedral to aviation, a miracle in steel and glass so vast and empty that staff use bicycles to get around After check-in, you take an escalator to the upper level Turn left, and you head for the departure gate. Turn right, and you find yourself in something of a side chapel This is the terminal’s own art gallery The exhibition currently showing is called “September 11″. It consists of a harrowing series of photographs chronicling the world’s worst catastrophe involving civil aviation, from the ghostly void where the World Trade Centre once stood to an array of fire trucks crushed in the awful events of September 11.