They Still Pay Them Peanuts

Again, we nibble around the edges of our problems.

Senate demands that FAA make reforms in the way pilots commute to work

”Seventy percent of the pilots based at Newark for Colgan Air Inc. -- the regional carrier that operated the flight for Continental Airlines -- commuted from other cities, and 20 percent commuted from more than 1,000 miles away, an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found. “

Do you ever wonder what the difference is between the airline business of today and the airline business back when Pan Am, Eastern, Southern, Republic and Western will all in business ? I mean, besides deregulation ?

I dare you to read this list, look at the dates and think.

Braniff International Airways (1928 - 1982)
Capitol Airways (1946 - 1982)
Eastern Air Lines (1926 - 1991)
Frontier Airlines (1950 - 1986)
National Airlines (1929 - 1980, to Pan American World Airways)
North Central Airlines (1939 - 1979, to Southern Airways)
Northwest Airlines (1927 - 2010, to Delta Air Lines)
Ozark Airlines (1943 - 1986, to Trans World Airlines)
Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) (1945 - 1987, to USAir)
Pan American World Airways (1927 - 1991)
Piedmont Airlines (1940 - 1989, to USAir)
Reeve Aleutian Airways (1932 - 2001)
Southern Airways (1943 - 1979, to Republic Airlines)
Texas International Airlines (1944 - 1986, to Continental Airlines)
Trans World Airlines (1930 - 2001, to American Airlines)
Western Airlines (1925 - 1987, to Delta Air Lines)

Airlines that were in business for 30, 40, 50 years or more were ruined. The list tells more than that single story. Look at how many airlines started after deregulation and didn’t survive. Every single one of them took a little piece of a healthy airline with them. It is madness. Yet we continue.

Regulation wasn’t perfect. But at least people could make a living in the industry. And the industry could survive.

Don Brown
February 26, 2010

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