The Obama administration is going to fix the ailing airline industry.
It is not the role of the government to fix an industry that is providing a service at a reasonable price to the consumer. There is plenty of competition. If anything is wrong in the industry it is the way the Transportation Security Administration treats the passengers. Fix that Mr. President.
The airline unions are calling in their chips to the Obama Administration. What can the government do to "fix" the airline industry and make it provide better service at a lower cost to the consumer? Nothing.
What can the government do to help the unions, who called for this forum? That is the purpose of the meeting, to help the unions, not the industry.
The government can restrict competition, thus making the consumer pay more so the entrenched union employees never lose their jobs through the creative destruction process of bankruptcy in a free market.
The airline industry is safer than it has been in the past, so safety is not an issue. The unions however will use safety as a scare tactic and say pilots and flight attendants are fatigued from longer hours of work. The unions will lobby to get the hours pilots and flight attendants can be on duty reduced. Government works only on the use of force. If the pilots were dangerous from fatigue, the accident rate would go up, not down.
By making it harder for startup airlines to get licensing the government will restrict competition. Since deregulation of 1978, the competition created by startups has kept the cost of airline tickets down. Pilot salaries are actually less now than they were in 1995.
(Air travel analyst Terry Trippler conducted a random survey of schedules and airfares comparing ticket prices of today with those from 25 years ago for 27 different cities.
When 1982 prices are adjusted for inflation, Trippler found that today's prices are actually lower.
In 1982 there were three roundtrip flights from Boston to Los Angeles, with the lowest fare costing $298. Adjusted for inflation, that ticket should cost $635 today, but Trippler found that, not only are there nine roundtrip flights instead of three, the lowest fare was just $199.
Flying from New York to Miami? In the eighties there were 21 flights, with the lowest fare costing $188. That same ticket should cost $400 in 2007, but Trippler found that the lowest fare was actually $158 and there are now 25 nonstop flights).The government will make it harder for pilots and mechanics to get a license. Right now a pilot can become an airline pilot if she is 23 years old and has 1500 hours and has passed the tests. Not even a high school diploma is required. The 1500 hours can be accumulated is less than 2 years. This makes it possible for the supply of pilots to be abundant. Raise those requirements to 8 years of college, like doctors require, and you will make it too expensive to become a pilot, thus fewer pilots, which like the restricted supply of doctors, pilot salaries will remain high. Raise the experiences required to become a mechanic and you reduce the number of mechanics.
The government will require more flight attendants on flights. This will help protect entrenched employees.
Charles Tolleson
Obama administration seeks to fix airline industry
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is taking its first step toward trying to fix the ailing airline industry, mired in a severe economic slump and facing safety worries.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is holding a forum Thursday to discuss the state of the industry and ways government can help provide economic stability for air carriers. The industry has been rocked by repeated crises in recent years, including the 9/11 terror attacks, the SARS virus and the current economic downturn.
"U.S. aviation is facing severe economic uncertainty and an open and frank conversation will help begin a continuing dialogue about the industry's future," transportation spokeswoman Sasha Johnson said.
LaHood's invitation to aviation stakeholders says the forum, which is closed to the public and the media, was organized at the request of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department.
Pat Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said she doesn't favor returning to the type of government supervision that existed before airline deregulation in 1978.
"But, there are some areas where we think you can tweak the deregulation," she said.
Airlines are extremely wary of any discussion of a return to economic regulation. They contend they are already heavily regulated and taxed.
Airline deregulation has been regarded as a success for consumers because airfares have declined. But other trends have raised concerns about whether airlines are offsetting low fares at the expense of safety.
A report last year by a government watchdog said nine large U.S. airlines farm out 70 percent of major maintenance. Overseas repair shops handled one-quarter of the work, challenging the ability of U.S. inspectors to determine whether it is done properly, the report said.
Major airlines have also farmed out short-haul trips to regional carriers, which now account for half of all domestic flights. Regional airlines often hire pilots with significantly less experience and pay lower wages than major airlines. Both issues have been raised in the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407, which crashed near Buffalo, N.Y., in February, killing 50 people. The flight was operated for Continental by regional carrier Colgan Air Inc. of Manassas, Va.
