Commuter Airlines

This research represents a discussion of the interactions between safety and economic issues in the operation of commuter airlines in the United States. Safety in air transportation is neither a new issue of concern, nor is it a new requirement imposed on airline management. Prior to the deregulation of the airline industry in the United States (which occurred largely between 1979 and 1983), however, the issue of safety could be effectively addressed almost independently of economic issues (Maynes, 1987). The reason that safety issues could be considered somewhat independently of economic factors was that, in the regulated environment, fares were generally established by the Civil Aeronautics Board at levels which assured the generation of the funds necessary to effectively address safety requirements. In the deregulated environment, fare levels are established by competitive forces, as opposed to regulatory action (Sorenson, 1990). The changed environment within which airlines must operate places safety issues on the table along with all of the other factors which must be addressed by airline management in the development of strategies designed to maintain the viability of the company. In this new environment, many people have charged that air transportation safety has suffered in the face of economic imperatives (Captain X and Dodson, 1989; Nance, 1986).

In the remainder of this analytical expositi

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e of traffic handled by the regional segment of the industry has been accompanied by an even greater growth in the number of competitors in the regional segment. As a consequence, the economic pressures on the regional airline companies are greater than they were during the regulated period, and, even under regulation, economic pressures were greater in the regional segment than they were in the trunk segment of the industry. II. CRITICAL CONTEXT The external frame of reference applied to evaluate the interactions between safety and economic issues in the operation of commuter airlines in the United States is the deregulation policy applied to the airline industry. Before the effects of airline deregulation on the interactions between safety and economic issues may be appreciated, it is necessary to understand why the industry was ever regulated. Many air transportation companies were formed in the United States in the mid and late1920s. Some of these companies merged to form larger firms, while others experienced significant growth without the necessity of amalgamation. Several of the new airline companies flourished in the late1920s. Most of the new airline companies, however, began to flounder soon after they were
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2547
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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