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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: Flying Around America

Aired September 28, 2001 - 07:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The terrorist attacks have brought U.S. tourism to a virtual halt. President Bush is trying to change that by getting Americans back in the air.

And this weekend his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, will hop on several commercial flights, trying to get people to come back to the Sunshine State. He will fly from Atlanta to Boston, Boston to Chicago and Chicago to Atlanta.

And Governor Bush joins us from Florida this morning. Welcome. Good to have you with us this morning.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: So, Governor Bush, how much money has your state lost since these terrorist attacks?

GOV. BUSH: Well, it's in the hundreds of millions of dollars of lost convention business, lost personal travel, lost vacationers. It's starting to get back to normal and that's heartening. But it's had an impact. We were leading the nation, I think, in job growth and economic activity and now we're probably dragging because -- the rest of the economy -- because of our dependence on air travel for both commerce as well as recreation.

ZAHN: How many of the small businesses related to the travel industry do you think are going to go belly up because of this?

GOV. BUSH: Well, it's hard to tell, but they're hurting right now and people are being laid off. And it is a small business industry. People think of Disney and Universal as being kind of the dominant part of our travel business and that's true to a certain extent. But a whole lot of businesses depend on those big amusement parks and our air travel for their livelihood.

And so we're hurting. Floridians are hurting right now. And the one thing that everybody tells me is, that's important, is to restore confidence in air travel. Yesterday's recommendations by the president, I think, are great. We're doing some things down here as well to help. And people, I think, are beginning to get back on airlines, airplanes. But it is really important that we have some restoration of some degree of normalcy.

ZAHN: But you have a twin challenge here because you not only want to restore faith in the safety of flying again, you've got to make people know that they're safe when they visit so many of these attractions in Florida. And I understand you have a special House security committee that will come to Orlando next week to meet with theme park executives and to meet with law enforcement officials to try to figure out what kind of laws might be enacted to make travelers feel more safe once they get there.

What do you think you have to do?

GOV. BUSH: Well, we have a task force that will make recommendations next Monday on security issues. But frankly most of what is in place was in place prior to September 11. we have been planning for this, like we plan for a hurricane or wildfires that occasionally hit our state.

Now we are implementing those security plans and heightening the security and we have great cooperation with the private sector and local law enforcement. Florida is a safe place and when people come down to our world renowned state park system or our beaches or our amusement parks, they'll see it. It hasn't changed. And we encourage them to do it.

ZAHN: Governor, you mentioned some of the changes your brother, the president, outlined yesterday, and you obviously support those changes. But at some point the state of Florida has got to figure out how to pay for some of those changes. I understand the state is actually considering diverting even aviation fuel tax to help cover the cost of additional security now by National Guard troops and others?

GOV. BUSH: That's right. If airports want to -- we're going to propose this in our special session -- if airports want to divert capital improvement programs to focus on new investments in security and operations to make air travel both convenient and safe, then we, on a temporary basis, we want them to do that. It appears that the federal government is also going to provide tremendous support through this initiative, which we're grateful for, and I think we're on the right track.

The key for us is that it happen quicker rather than later.

ZAHN: Your brother, the president, also mentioned how much he wants Americans to spend, spend, spend right now. I'm just wondering how acutely aware of the problems in Florida you have made your brother?

GOV. BUSH: Well, I've talked to him about it. He has a bigger task than to worry about one state. But part of the strategy to deal with these acts of terror is to restore our economy as quickly as possible. And that requires a return to some degree of normalcy in our lives. And so the president has encouraged all Americans to do that and Florida will benefit from that strategy, there's no question about it.

ZAHN: It might be one of those rare times that people don't actually have to wait in line at Disney World, right, Governor? GOV. BUSH: We want them to come and try it.

ZAHN: You hope that changes, though?

GOV. BUSH: Right.

ZAHN: You want those long lines back?

GOV. BUSH: We want them to come and test it.

ZAHN: All right, Governor Bush, thank you so much for your time. Good luck this weekend.

GOV. BUSH: Thank you.

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