Okay, now that we’ve all had time to digest the news from today and, as we hear now, there are even more changes that are going to be made in U.S. airport security procedures tomorrow by the Transportation Security Administration — just a couple of comments.

One, if Scotland Yard did indeed foil a grand plot to blow up a series of aircraft, then that’s great. And that is what they should be doing. Bravo to them.

Two, so now we have the details of yet another way to blow up an airplane. Not surprisingly, now millions of people have to be treated as potential terrorists with the latest TSA restrictions concerning any “liquids” being brought onboard.

But British Airways continues to ban any electronic equipment onboard as well. As least as of tonight. Will TSA officials on this side of the pond move towards a similar ban?

So where is all of this going to end?

Not happily I’m afraid.

And yes, “afraid” is the key word.

For five years we have had to live with a TSA that is about as effective as FEMA. And just about as cost-effective.

As I wrote earlier this year in PlaneBusiness Banter, given the then-current screening processes the TSA had in place, did any of us really feel that much safer?

Not really. Reading email feedback after that column it was clear most of our subscribers felt the same way. The most effective change that had been made to affect onboard security? The securing of cockpit doors. Oh, and the fact there might be a few guns on the airplane — in any number of hands.

Meanwhile, there is the TSA. A whole lot of money and a whole lot of bureaucracy, but not much else. Oh, and then there are those color codes from Homeland Security. Yes, those are so very helpful.

What concerns me now is that the TSA and the powers behind TSA are going to go “overboard” as they attempt to “protect” the U.S. airline passenger. Why? We all know why. Because the TSA wants people to think it’s doing something to protect us. This is, after all, the war on terror. It’s important to look like the TSA is being effective.

But if the TSA is truly effective, then why isn’t all checked baggage screened for bombs?

Why is it that cargo that is shipped on our passenger aircraft is not screened?

But oh no, that $22 bottle of Clinique some woman had to ditch this morning before she boarded her flight is important. It could contain peroxide.

Bottomline my concern is, as it usually is, for the financial health and well-being of a very fragile industry — ours. The airline industry.

We saw how the industry was hit twice after the attacks of 9/11. First by the event itself, and then by the effects of long security lines, ever-changing TSA mandates at airports, inadequate screening areas, and more.

We’ll see how the next couple of weeks pan out.

But yes, I’m concerned.

Not about a potential attack. But more about the TSA imposing such heavy-handed “security” mandates that the airline industry finds itself impacted quite negatively as passengers decide, for any number of reasons, that perhaps that next trip is not necessary after all.

Like I say, we’ll see.