e country, and two carriers, Pan American and TWA, accounted for most of the international traffic on American flag carriers. The trunk line segment of the industry, as predicted by the opponents of deregulation, had, indeed, become an oligopoly in a quite short period of time under a policy of deregulation which was intended to increase the number of competitors in the industry.
Following the turn-around in the United States economy, which began in late-1983, the economic health of the airline industry as a whole also began to improve. Many of the individual airline companies, however, remained in trouble. During the decade of the 1980s, bankruptcies, near bankruptcies, acquisitions, and mergers saw the demise of many old line airline companies. Braniff, Eastern, and Pan American are gone.
Deregulation in the airline industry was expected to improve customer service by increasing competition. Competition was expected to improve as a result of (1) the flexibility permitted in the setting of fares, (2) the freedom of carr
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