What would "re-regulation" mean?

[TOGA]

I'm beginning to see & hear this subject brought up more & more . . . Oberstar on the Hill, Crandall on MSNBC, etc. I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on what this would mean . . . to the industry, us, pax, etc . . . talk amongst yourselves.

 

[Raoul Duke]

It will never happen, not worth wasting the time thinking about it.

 

[CitationUltra]

I'm beginning to see & hear this subject brought up more & more . . . Oberstar on the Hill, Crandall on MSNBC, etc. I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on what this would mean . . . to the industry, us, pax, etc . . . talk amongst yourselves.

It would mean the government setting fares and determining who flies which route. That was the way it was prior to 1978, e.g., prior to "deregulation" which was actually only a partial deregulation, and not a successful one at that.

 

[Lear70]

It would mean:

1. Fewer aircraft, overcapacity is a major problem, and regulation would set frequency and aircraft size for everyone.

2. Fewer pilots, for that reduction in capacity.

3. Angry, angry citizens, either from steep increase in ticket prices or the increase in taxes that would be needed to subsidize fares to keep them low enough to avoid public outcry.

Something has to give, this insanity has got to end, but I don't think the house or the senate, who rely on their constituents to vote them back into office come re-election time, will ever follow through on it.

Too much fallout to suffer.

 

[vtwo]

I know it won't happen BUT

I know it won't happen but the Bankruptcy laws need to be rewritten. No airline should be allowed to file for BK and then operate for years at a competitive advantage while the others are forced to pat stadard prices. then when the airline exits BK the ones who put it there get bonuses while those who have invested money( share holders), careers(employees). are fleeced. al the wile forcing the other wel run and managed companies to do the same if they are to stay competitive.

Bottom line is Bk should equal liquidation.
then maybe these thieves would not be so fast to rush to the pro business courts. crying " it's 9/11, or the fuel prices, or it's the economy or labor cost"
just sell your product for what it cost plus your profit margin desired.
If you won't do that it could be self induced business suicide.
If the politicians are so worried about preserving jobs in their sector then may some sort of pricing limits should be imposed. After all they set minimum prices for drugs, milk and cigarettes why not airfare?

 

[inline]

I'm beginning to see & hear this subject brought up more & more . . . Oberstar on the Hill, Crandall on MSNBC, etc. I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on what this would mean . . . to the industry, us, pax, etc . . . talk amongst yourselves.

Would be a giant step backwards. Hardly anyone flew before deregulation.

 

[Jmoney]

Great point!

I know it won't happen but the Bankruptcy laws need to be rewritten. No airline should be allowed to file for BK and then operate for years at a competitive advantage while the others are forced to pat stadard prices. then when the airline exits BK the ones who put it there get bonuses while those who have invested money( share holders), careers(employees). are fleeced. al the wile forcing the other wel run and managed companies to do the same if they are to stay competitive.

Bottom line is Bk should equal liquidation.
then maybe these thieves would not be so fast to rush to the pro business courts. crying " it's 9/11, or the fuel prices, or it's the economy or labor cost"
just sell your product for what it cost plus your profit margin desired.
If you won't do that it could be self induced business suicide.
If the politicians are so worried about preserving jobs in their sector then may some sort of pricing limits should be imposed. After all they set minimum prices for drugs, milk and cigarettes why not airfare?

I have told people this for a long time......

Regulation is still alive and well. Just think of regulation as "corporate welfare." All we have done is replace one type of "corporate welfare" with another-simply known as "bankruptcy." There is no minimum standard for airlines anymore-you can simply run a company into the ground and still profit.

 

[Otto77]

Would be a giant step backwards. Hardly anyone flew before deregulation.

good that is the way it should be. Its a privilege... It should cost more than 200 bucks for the average joe blow to fly in a pressurized aluminum tube 30,000 feet in the air. Something is jacked up when it costs more to drive my car on vacation than flying.

 

[buckeyes95]

It would be stability for communities, for employees, and for the passengers. It would mean fewer pilots and planes in the air, but we are headed there anyway. It would mean ending the race to the bottom. Deregulation has been a complete and total failure. Besides, the airlines were not truely deregulated anyway.

 

[Otto77]

It would be stability for communities, for employees, and for the passengers. It would mean fewer pilots and planes in the air, but we are headed there anyway. It would mean ending the race to the bottom. Deregulation has been a complete and total failure. Besides, the airlines were not truely deregulated anyway.

agreed!

 

[Way2Broke]

It would mean that the government would be admitting that is made a mistake. Our government is not good at that, so even if it would be a good thing, it may never happen.

 

[Hamburger]

Hardly anyone flew before deregulation.

More along the line of airlines made money and poor people had to ride the goddamn bus.

 

[Jonny Sacko]

I know it won't happen but the Bankruptcy laws need to be rewritten. No airline should be allowed to file for BK and then operate for years at a competitive advantage while the others are forced to pat standard prices. then when the airline exits BK the ones who put it there get bonuses while those who have invested money( share holders), careers(employees). are fleeced. al the wile forcing the other well run and managed companies to do the same if they are to stay competitive.

Bottom line is Bk should equal liquidation.
then maybe these thieves would not be so fast to rush to the pro business courts. crying " it's 9/11, or the fuel prices, or it's the economy or labor cost"
just sell your product for what it cost plus your profit margin desired.
If you won't do that it could be self induced business suicide.
If the politicians are so worried about preserving jobs in their sector then may some sort of pricing limits should be imposed. After all they set minimum prices for drugs, milk and cigarettes why not airfare?

I think even more, we need employee benefits paid BEFORE creditors. That little change would STOP bankruptcies, if not forever, slow them way down. Right now, anything the company owes employees, gets tossed the day they file.

As for re-regulation, it doesn't state the cost per leg, it allows the companies to BID on each route. The cost of the route designates the cost per flight. The PRICE charged passengers can fluctuate greatly, since they have NO competition. What the government SHOULD do, (like the funny faced guy said) at major cities JFK,LGA,EWR etc. split off maybe 5% to companies that aren't based there. Leave the rest for the Hubbed airline, but they MUST pay for those routes from there. If they can't pay the cost per route, sell them back to the government, who will find another airline to purchase those routes. It's an excellent way to bring back dignity in this industry. ALPA should be banging for this, but Prater is such a sellout he can't understand anything like this. I wish anyone of you guys were in charge of ALPA National before that looser. The pilots unoion has a lot of clout if USED. It's all a pipe dream, too bad.

 

[GogglesPisano]

I know it won't happen but the Bankruptcy laws need to be rewritten. No airline should be allowed to file for BK and then operate for years at a competitive advantage while the others are forced to pat stadard prices. then when the airline exits BK the ones who put it there get bonuses while those who have invested money( share holders), careers(employees). are fleeced. al the wile forcing the other wel run and managed companies to do the same if they are to stay competitive.

?

I believe the BK laws were changed back in 2005. The same laws that affected personal filings also affected business filings. DL and NW just made it in under the wire.

 

[pilotyip]

Life was good for a few pilots under regulation. There are probably 4-5 times as many pilot’s jobs now as there was in 1977. Back in reg time it was about 75% military hiring that went to the majors. Dereg opened up a lot of airline job to non-military pilots. To return to regulation would raise ticket prices, reduce the number of passengers, and therefore reduce the number of pilots needed.