Airline Deregulation

Airline deregulation is the removal of government control over which airlines may fly a route, how many may compete on it and what fare they may charge, most closely associated with the United States' Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which phased out the Civil Aeronautics Board's authority over fares and routes and let market entry and competition set them instead. Average US airline revenue per passenger mile fell from an inflation adjusted 33.3 cents in 1974 to 13 cents in the first half of 2010, though the same period saw eight major carriers and more than a hundred smaller ones go bankrupt as the newly competitive market shook out.