This morning American Airlines, the last of the major carriers that were established before deregulation, filed for bankruptcy protection in New York. My thoughts and prayers go out to the mechanics, and all employees, at AMR. As we can all attest bankruptcy is a heinous process for the employees.
Can we now declare deregulation a complete and total failure? Lets examine a couple of facts; 1 the airline industry prior to deregulation functioned well for the most part with very few bankruptcies, 2 Every major carrier established prior to deregulation has now filed for bankruptcy. Using this very simple fact set I'm prepared to say this policy was disastrous for the entire sector.
The continued lobbying for bankruptcy reform treating airlines the same as railways needs to continue.
