The planned simultaneous attacks on aircraft that were foiled by British authorities last week can be described as one small victory against terrorism. But the bigger battle is far from over and the way things are developing across the world leads many to think that there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

The plan, if it had been carried out, would have caused carnage on an “unimaginable” scale, as London’s deputy police commissioner Paul Stephenson said soon after the news became public.

The terrorists’ goal was to blow up one plane after another as they made their way to the United States from London, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocent men, women and children.

Ever since the dreadful happenings of 11 September 2001, the fight against terrorism took on a new dimension. It was no longer an issue of “if” something was going to happen, but “when”, and after last Thursday’s events counter-terrorism officials said that what was being planned could have been “the big one” that they have been dreading for nearly five years.

Tourism, one of the mainstays of the economy in most developed countries, was adversely hit by what happened in the United States five years ago. The so-called fear of travel gripped many people and it took some time before they felt safe enough to travel again. Many of the world’s economies suffered deeply after the event and took long to recover.

Measures were taken by airport authorities to make travelling by plane more secure and others were put quickly into force last week when the terror plot was foiled. But other incidents, foremost among which the London bombings that took place in July last year, have made it amply clear that society is vulnerable to other terrorist threats.

There have been other thwarted terrorist plots in various places since 2001, while some have been unfortunately successful. Apart from the killing of 52 people by suicide bombers in London on 7 July, 2005, 58 others were killed in two attacks in Istanbul, Turkey in 2003, and 202 more in Bali in 2002. Nearly 200 people were killed in Madrid on 11 March, 2004.

It is hard to imagine that the foiled plot of last week will stop terrorists from forming other plans and finding other solutions. Analysts have said that the there is no doubt that they will keep on trying. Counter-terrorism authorities know that they have to remain alert for other attacks that could be planned, and the problem is finding out when and where.

The effects of what happened last week in London are as yet hard to determine. The plot was, yes, this time round foiled, but what is going to happen next time?

Will people once again become afraid of boarding a plane? Will they think twice before taking their children on a holiday abroad? Are the security measures being taken in airports enough to secure a safe flight? Are other transport systems – that seem to be the target of terrorists – safe enough for travelling?

These are some of the questions people started to ask themselves ever since the events of 11 September 2001, and they have started to ask them again after what happened in London last week.

If anything, even a foiled plot has its own negative effect on the way of life of millions of people who either have to use transport for work or business purposes, or else do so for pleasure.

In a way, even a foiled plot disrupts normal routines as it shocks the world into thinking “what would have happened if it had not been stopped?”