Let's look forward to our next flight

By G. BRUCE HEDLUND

www.itsnotjustyou.net

The Miami Herald's May 1 editorial A better deal for airline passengers indicates that we have come full circle (almost) regarding the current state of disarray in the airline industry. I was surprised at the subtitle, Feds should step in if carriers don't improve, however, and think a better one would be Feds should step in because carriers haven't improved.

The airline industry was deregulated in 1978 under the guise of cheaper fares and more service as a result of greater competition from a wider choice of airlines. Well, let's see: Fares are still cheap, but service has suffered (both in the cabin and out), and there is no successful airline in business today that arose from the deregulated skies.

Every so often, though, there are cries of re-regulation and ''you'd better clean up your act, or else'' threats from Congress and its constituents, but these cries inevitably die down.

Face it, no effort to deregulate any behemoth has resulted in any long-term benefit to those involved (other than various corporate executives, of course) -- not telephone companies (AT&T is back and bigger than ever), electric utilities (ask any Californian) or the air carriers. Flying does not involve the cachet it once did, but there is little joy in the exercise today. A return to a regulated environment would benefit each and every air traveler and airline employee.

The regulated oversight of the airlines was once under the auspices of the Civil Aeronautics Board. A reborn CAB could address many of the shortcomings in today's airline world. Each airline operating under Part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (i.e. most U.S. carriers operating today), for example, could be forced to adhere to acceptable minimums of capitalization, service amenities and fare schedules. This alone would solve many problems associated with Passengers' Bill of Rights movements and the steady stream of cash-strapped airlines going bankrupt almost overnight. New entrant airlines, as a result, would be fewer and farther between, but their odds of surviving over the long term would be greater.

The old CAB regulated city pairs, and I see no need for that authority today. But the new CAB could control departure times and, in so doing, reduce congestion at our airports. Currently, airlines schedule multiple flights within mere minutes of each other with no hope of a timely departure. Our new CAB could prevent these unrealistic schedules. And, as traffic was reduced to more manageable levels, the desire for more airports and/or runways might well increase to the point where compromise could trump partisan zeal.

So we would have today's dysfunctional airline industry replaced by a more dependable model with predictable fares, predictable service and predictable reliability. Would those fares be higher than today's? Probably, but travelers aren't getting much bang for their buck right now, are they?

Without a new CAB, you can expect further encroachment into our airspace by foreign airlines interested in mining the gold from the pockets of domestic travelers. And the domestic traveler, with promises of low fares and better service, could well go along with that. Of course, history shows that a bit farther down the road those airlines would have higher fares and lower service, but there will be nowhere to turn, as the U.S. airlines would have, by that time, disappeared completely. Let's be smarter than this, shall we? Let's admit that sometimes a federal cook in the kitchen can be a good thing and get back to looking forward to our next flight rather than bracing for it.

In 1978 we handed airline managers the reins and trusted them to mind their store. They have failed miserably in all areas save their own compensation. It's time to relieve them of their exclusive grasp and return some sanity to air travel before this runaway horse can do more damage.

G. Bruce Hedlund is a retired Air Force pilot and 23-year veteran pilot for U.S. carriers. He is currently a B-767 captain and wrote It's NOT Just You! (Vantage Press, 2006).