PARIS, Sept 10: Europe’s biggest airlines have decided to scale back the number of flights to the United States on Wednesday as passengers shun air travel on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the US.

Many airlines took the decision after noting deep drops in bookings for Wednesday, which marks a year since terrorists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in rural Pennslyvania.

A spokeswoman for British Airways said: “People are not flying on the anniversary”, explaining that bookings were so low that managers decided to cut about one third of the airline’s usually scheduled flights from Britain to the US.

A similar story was heard at other big European carriers.

British airline Virgin Atlantic cut three of its usually scheduled flights to the US for Wednesday as did German carrier Lufthansa and Scandinavian group SAS.

Air France, which is just recovering from a costly four-day strike that ended late Monday, is cutting two flights to the US.

At the International Air Transport Association IATA, spokesman William Gaillard said that although many airlines had reported what he called a “marginal” drop in passenger numbers on Wednesday, it was being compensated for by more bookings before and after the anniversary.

Unlike their bigger rivals, smaller European carriers said they expected to conduct business as usual on Wednesday. Spanish carrier Air Europa and TAO-Air Portugal expect a normal day, while Finnair of Finland said its New York flight was full.

Outside Europe, carriers noted that bookings for US flights were little impacted by the anniversary of the attacks.

Thai Airways said its bookings for Wednesday were at normal levels with its Bangkok-Los Angeles flight even slightly “overbooked”.

Turkish Airlines, Moroccan carrier Royal Air Maroc, Pakistan International Airlines and Israel’s El Al also reported normal reservation levels for Wednesday.—AFP