Civil Aeronautics Board ("CAB") and government regulation
To those who dismiss the idea of government regulation one should remember that, at the time of deregulation, commercial aviation in the US had existed for about 50 years. Not bad for such "dysfunctional" government oversight! Delta, by the way, had been in business for about 40 years.
The biggest failings of the CAB were two things: (1) Subsidies which shielded airlines from bankruptcies and the consequences of operating unprofitable routes. (2) Regulation of fares and routes. Schedules were also regulated--but for reasons having nothing to do with airport congestion. Re-regulation doesn't have to repeat these mistakes. If one looks at an average major airport around Christmas, how could government regulation make things any worse???
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