Following the attacks, the U.

S formed the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to

handle airport screening at U.S airports. Government agencies around the world tightened their
airport security, procedures and intelligence gathering. Until the September 11 attacks, there had
never been an incident whereby an aircraft was used as a weapon of mass destruction. The 9/11
Commission report stated that it was always assumed that a "hijacking would take the traditional
form", therefore, airline crews never had a contingency plan for a suicide-hijacking.As Patrick
Smith, an airline pilot, summarizes:

"One of the big ironies here is the success of the 2001 attacks had nothing to do with airport
security in the first place. It was a failure of national security. What the men actually exploited
was a weakness in our mind-set — a set of presumptions based on decades-long track record of
hijackings. In years past, a hijacking meant a diversion, with hostage negotiations and standoffs.
The only weapon that mattered was the intangible one: the element of surprise."

Throughout the mid-2000s, hijackings still occurred but there were much fewer incidents and
casualties. The number of incidents had been declining, even before the September 11 attacks.
One notable incident in 2006 was the hijacking of Turkish Airlines Flight 1476, flying
from Tirana to Istanbul, which was seized by a man named HakanEkinci. The aircraft, with 107
passengers and 6 crew, made distress calls to air traffic control and the plane was escorted by
military aircraft before landing safely at Brindisi, Italy. In 2007, several incidents occurred in the
Middle East and Northern Africa, one of which men claimed to be affiliated with Al -
Qaeda.Towards the end of the decade, AeroMexico experienced its first terror incident
when Flight 576 was hijacked by a man demanding to speak with President Calderon.

Since 2010, the Aviation Safety Network estimates there have been 15 hijackings worldwide
with 3 fatalities. This is a considerable lower figure than in previous decades which can be
attributed to greater security enhancements and awareness of September 11—style attacks. More
recently was the 2016 hijacking of EgyptAir Flight MS181, involving an Egyptian man who
claimed to have a bomb and ordered the plane to land in Cyprus. He surrendered several hours
later, after freeing the passengers and crew.

Countermeasures