I too believe in freemarket economoics; however, I also believe in enforcing anti-trust legislation. Under both Democratic & Republican administrations, the Department of Justice allowed some mergers to go forward which should have been stopped. (Republic-Northwest, Delta-Western, US Air-Piedmont, to name a few.) john kurtzke On Thu, 20 Mar 2003 damiross2@xxxxxxxxx wrote: > I don't think most carriers, at least the regional ones, consistently made a > profit. Northeast rarely made a profit. The regionals (Southern, Allegheny, > etc.) were heavily subsidized so any profit they made was not a real profit. > > I believe 100% in free market economics. If an airline (or any company) cannot > survive without marketplace competition, then it should not survive. > > Flying today is much safer than it was during the regulated error mainly due to > the aircraft themselves. With high tech, the aircraft just about tell the > mechanics what is wrong with them. > > No, going back to a economically regulated industry would not be a very bad > mistake. You would not have any of the low cost carriers such as Southwest > or JetBlue. > > David R > > damiross2@xxxxxxxxx writes: > > > > > had nothing to do with being the safest > > > > In those days most carriers made a profit and didnt have to scimp/cut > > maintainance like the do today-I think the system then in place made for > > better maintained acft and safer flying. > > Dennis > -- John F. Kurtzke, C.S.C. Department of Mathematics 278 Buckley Center University of Portland Portland, OR 97203 503-943-7377 kurtzke@xxxxxx