Terrorist tragedy seeps into every corner

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

It looks like business as usual at Auckland Airport, but beneath the veneer of normality run the currents of change.

Speak to the security guard, to the businesswoman waiting for her plane, to the man in the turban, and all seem to have been touched by the United States terrorist attacks or the woes of Air New Zealand.

Upstairs in the international terminal is Ramandeep Bakshi, a bearded Indian-New Zealand Sikh wearing a turban.

On Monday morning Mr Bakshi was visiting a bank in Manukau City when construction workers asked if he was an Afghan.

That night he dined at an Auckland restaurant when a man who had been drinking walked towards him, stared, walked back to his seat and kept staring throughout the meal.

Small incidents, perhaps, but enough to scare an innocent man.

"We were pretty shocked - we just went there to get food," Mr Bakshi said. "They keep showing Osama bin Laden's photo all the time on television, and people don't know the difference. Ninety-nine per cent of people in a turban are Sikhs, not Muslims."

Downstairs at Airways Florist, Michelle Foley-Taylor speaks of unusual behaviour after the terrorist attacks.

The day after the World Trade Center towers crumbled to dust she sold a lot of flowers for no particular reason. The collective mood of passersby had changed.

"It was quite odd. People felt grief. You know when Lady Di died? It was like that."

The staff are smiling behind the Air New Zealand counters. Get them alone and it's a different story.

"I think the morale here is very low," says one airline woman. "There's a lot of uncertainty and people are worried about their jobs.

"I've been here during the good times as well and I've loved it."

Perhaps the most visible change is with security. X-ray Machines have been taken out of storage rooms where they have been sitting since the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Auckland in 1999. Nobody is allowed into the United States unless all their luggage has been scanned.

"It's causing all sorts of problems," says one airport official. "Normally we don't screen hold luggage, and during the weekend people were banked right up."

The official says the x-ray machines will stay in place for three months at least, maybe permanently.

Now it's lunchtime, and diners at a downstairs cafe turn to a big screen to see a photo of bin Laden over the words "Wanted, Dead or Alive". There is news of a huge US bailout for struggling airlines. There is less encouraging news of a possible bailout for Air New Zealand.

Security is also tight at the domestic terminals. Passengers flying on all aircraft with more than 90 people are having their luggage x-rayed.

Waiting for one plane is a retired man from Blenheim who has just returned from an impromptu holiday in Northland. He should be on a one-month package tour of the US, but his plane was grounded on Thursday after the terrorist strikes.

His advice for travellers? "Make sure you get to the airport early - all this security is definitely holding things up."

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