Foiled aircraft bomb plot lowers gas prices
Oil fell $2 to below $75 a barrel on Thursday after Britain said it had thwarted a plot to blow up aircraft in transatlantic flight (see snippet below for some details on that)Â and investors recalled the slump in fuel demand that followed 9/11.
Oil consumption would again be hard hit if travelers turn away from flights and consumer confidence takes a knock. Jet fuel prices in particular moved down sharply in the weeks after September 11, 2001 and after the SARS outbreak in 2003.
At 1645 GMT U.S. oil was down $1.95 at $74.40, off a low of $74.20. London Brent crude was down $1.72 at $75.56.
A strike against an already weakened airline industry, caused by the constantly escalating prices of fuel, would not only cripple air travel, re-awaken the fear and concern of the 9-11 attacks, but an attack of this nature and magnitude would also bring into question the worlds ability to protect itself from the terrorist element. Our congratulations to the law enforcement teams that successfully aborted this attack before it was carried out.
BRITISH police have thwarted what they said was a plot to blow up aircraft flying to the US, causing “mass murder on an unimaginable scale”.
Twenty-one people were arrested and airports across Europe thrown into chaos after Britain’s security status was elevated from severe to critical - “imminent attack expected”. The US raised its status to “red” - the highest level - for flights from Britain.
US officials said the airlines targeted were United, American and Continental. A police source said up to 10 flights might have been targeted, the BBC reported.
The US Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, said the plot was in its final stages of planning. It was “international in scope” and “in some respects suggestive of an al-Qaeda plot”.