Carry on travelling, business people told

London's business community appealed to its members not to change plans or travel arrangements in the light of the tragedy in Queens.

A spokeswoman for London First, the business consortium which was formed to promote the needs of the capital and is soon to join forces with the London Chamber of Commerce, said: "The worst thing we can possibly do is spread doom, when actually visiting London and New York need to be talked up.

"If this is an accident - as is seeming increasingly likely - as opposed to anything else, it needs to be dealt with in that context."

She said that business leaders were holding back from making specific comment on how yesterday's tragedy would hit the capital before the cause of the crash was revealed.

But she added: "The cause of the tragedy will make a difference." It was made clear that the reaction would be very different if it was found to be the result of a new terrorist attack rather than an accident.

London First is now contacting its counterparts in New York in an effort to establish what it can do to promote both cities and try to halt the downturn in business travel which has hit the airlines worst of all. The spokeswoman promised that anything London First could do for its New York counterparts would be done.

"London's message is one of condolence to a city that is coping with so much at the moment.

"The links between London and New York are so strong and we will be looking at what we can do. Part of that is not letting either city be talked down."

She added: "In terms of lightning striking twice - with it being New York and American Airlines again - it is just too much to bear."

Figures from airport owners BAA, revealed hours before the Airbus went down, show that a million fewer people, down to 9.8 million, used the UK's seven major airports last month compared with the same period a year ago.

A BAA spokesman said: "The north Atlantic and certain long-haul markets continue to be worst affected by the terrorist attacks on 11 September. "The north Atlantic market was down 31.3 per cent in October and other long- haul traffic declined by 16.4 per cent."

The number of travellers to America from both Heathrow and Gatwick has fallen to two thirds of what it was a year ago.

British Airways, the UK's largest operator, is losing £2 million a day across the board. Any further or continuing downturn will increase the likelihood of more jobs being lost - the company has already announced it is shedding 7,000 jobs with anything upwards of 3,000 more possibly to go.