May
29
2016
Frequent flyers complain about airlines and even occasionally call to re-regulate them. But those calls fail to recognize that airlines are in fact one of the most highly regulated industries as it is, and what the Airline Deregulation Act did was free up airlines to compete on schedule and price.
The government no longer had to approve new routes, and no longer set prices, with the closing of the Civil Aeronautics Board. The CAB used to protect the airlines, not consumers by limiting what was termed ‘ruinous competition’. They ensured prices were set high enough to earn profits.
Calls to re-regulate the airlines, then, are in some sense anti-consumer. They’re calls to ensure higher profits and less choice.
