The deregulation of U.S. interstate aviation: an assessment of causes and consequences (part 2)

After forty years of economic regulation, the U.S. interstate aviation industry was ‘deregulated’ in 1978. This paper offers an assessment of the reasons for this radical change in official federal policy and an evaluation of the longer term impact of the reforms. Further, it provides a number of observations regarding the universality of the experiences of the U.S.A. in the context of the gradual liberalization of aviation regulation in general and the ‘deregulation’ of European aviation in particular.