Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal Volume 6 | Issue 1 Article 3 1988 The American Experience Under the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 - An Airline Perspective Michael A. Katz Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Katz, Michael A. (1988) "The American Experience Under the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 - An Airline Perspective," Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article 3. Available at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj/vol6/iss1/3 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Katz: The American Experience Under the Airline Deregulation Act of 197 THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE UNDER THE AIRLINE DEREGULATION ACT OF 1978 - AN AIRLINE PERSPECTIVE* Michael A. Katz** The airline industry as we know it today began to develop in the 1920's and 30's. During this time many small airlines which had been established primarily to carry the mail combined to form what would ultimately be the major United States air carriers, such as United Airlines, the largest American single carrier, which was cre- ated by the consolidation of four smaller airlines, Eastern Airlines, TWA and others. During this era, there was little governmental reg- ulation of the industry, and it developed in an environment of consid- erable chaos. As the development of the industry as a means of in- tercity passenger travel began in earnest, there surfaced some scandals in the award by the Post Office of airmail contracts.