Passenger Travel

Passenger enplanements since 1978 have increased dramatically. In 1978, 275 million people flew on domestic airlines. By 1995, that figure had doubled, to 548 million. In 2000, the number had increased to 693 million. Because of 9-11, passenger travel dropped significantly, to a low of 641 million in 2002, but by the end of 2005, passenger enplanements were almost 780 million. Between 2006 and 2010, cycling once again primarily due to economic factors, the average annual passenger count declined to 736 million. It is beyond argument that deregula­tion opened up air travel to the vast general popu­lation of the United States primarily because of a falling fare structure.

dumber of Carriers

The number of carriers operating in any given year since deregulation has fluctuated greatly, although there has been an increase overall. This variation has been referred to as the “ebb and flow” of entrants by former CAB chairman John E. Robson. The “flow” of entrants has been marked by high expectations, and the “ebb” of failures in the industry by excuses. A variety of reasons has been given for new entrant fail­ures: inexperienced management, unrealistic business plans, lack of solid financial backing, public doubts about airlines’ reliability, and poorly conceived pricing structures. Recently, new entrant airlines have stabilized their perfor­mance record, with far fewer failures than were seen in the period just after the airlines were deregulated.

In 1938 when the CAB took over economic regulation of the airlines, there were 16 trunk carriers; by 1978, that number had shrunk to 10 airlines, although local service airlines and commuters had brought the total number of air­lines to 43. While airlines have been classified in a number of different ways, the Department of Transportation defines airlines based on annual revenues as major airlines, national airlines, and regional airlines. In 2000, there were a total of 90 airlines operating in the United States, of which 10 were classified as “major” airlines, a rough equivalent to the trunk airlines of regulation days. By reason of volume and inflation costs, by 2010 the number of “major” airlines had grown to 18. As of 2012, through mergers and acquisi­tions, the number of incumbent “major” airlines had declined to five. The number of surviving legacy airlines remains a moving target as carri­ers continue to adjust to the factors that seem to control their individual destinies.