The Civil Aviation Authority and the user

Extract

Users generally believe that the modern aeroplane can fly on its own wings economically. They see ordinary commercial competition in the European charter market: and in spite of the low prices that have resulted, they see that several of the UK charter operators have made very respectable profits. Sir Sefton Brancker told us that “healthy competition is the only sure preventive to inefficiency, slackness and dishonesty”—and some of us believe he might agree now that air transport is no longer an exception. Within California, by a unique regulatory quirk, the establishment airline fares have been nearly halved by competition; and yet specialist airlines have made profits. Users see also that three of the major American airlines which stood high in your Committee's productivity league, were each able to shed over 5000 employees when financial stress forced management to cut costs. In the present climate here, it may be that the Authority will find that its statutory duty to reward only efficient operators with an economic return may cause some painful problems, notably on the domestic trunk routes, where competition has exposed massive differences in cost levels.