of its success(92).
At the heart of the debate is still the consumer and the productivity rate of the airlines which directly effects consumer spending. Because of the price drop passenger seats that usually go unfilled now have occupants. Improvement is also fostered by the airlines who now possess the ability to choose where they fly. Proof of the success is unchallengeable in economic terms. "Mr Clifford Winston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington calculates that the gain to the consumer in the first ten years of airline deregulation was roughly $100 billion"(The Economist, 68). Still, the airline industry is a volatile marketplace. Despite the ebbs and flows, consumers have significantly benefited from the government deregulation of the airline industry since the late 1970's. This reprieve from regulation continues says Robert W. Poole Jr. and Viggo Butler. In an article they co-wrote for Regulation Magazine the gentlemen cite that, "Economists from the Brookings Institution and George Mason University have estimated that consumers save some $19.4 billion per year thanks to the lower fares resulting from a competitive airline marketplace"(44).
The airlines are not fearful of these savings, in fact, they embrace them. The big airlines have used price reductions to edge out smaller airlines who until recently were struggling to stay afloat. Reconcentration of the industry results in anti-competitive behavior which is the reason for antitrust laws. But antitrust laws are difficult to enforce when so many routes are available to customers at such little cost. Along with this a new economic conundrum arises. Authors J.R. Norsworthy and Ivan L. Pitt explain:
The increasing sophistication with which the leading carriers practice what
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