Airlines: the Shoe Is Too Small

Award extra mileage points to American Airlines President Robert L. Crandall for recognizing that airline deregulation has its bumpy spots and for proposing that something be done about it. Specifically, Crandall has urged the government to help eliminate overcrowding of airports by putting limits on landings and takeoffs.

The problem is clear. Intense competition has forced airlines to jam too many flights into too small a shoe. The result, at best, is frustrating delay for passengers while air-traffic controllers space out planes to allow them to operate safely or planes are held on the tarmac until a gate opens at the terminal. The result, at worst, is a horrendous accident waiting to happen.

Crandall’s solution is for the Federal Aviation Administration to determine an airport’s capacity and then allocate landing and takeoff slots to commercial, military and general aviation. Crandall should have stopped at this point, allowing the FAA to work out some equitable form of allocation.

Crandall went on, however, to propose that slots be auctioned to the highest bidder. This would only escalate the consolidation of the airlines into a handful of giants as the big and relatively wealthy lines, like American, outbid the smaller regional carriers for the choicest arrival and departure times.

At the same conference at which Crandall spoke, Sen. Brock Adams (D-Wash.), former transportation secretary, reminded attendees that the issue was never full regulation of the airline industry or none at all. The government must regulate the airline business to assure safety, at the very least. If the FAA and the Transportation Department do not fulfill that responsibility, Congress most certainly will.