Machinists Call For Airline Re-regulation

Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr. (right) testified this week before three congressional committees about airline consolidation and the need for re-regulation.

Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr. testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and called for re-regulation of the airline industry.

“It is clear that airline deregulation has failed to deliver on its promises of a stable and profitable industry,” said Roach. “Airline business plans today focus on lowering standards, eliminating services and reducing ticket prices to the bone to put competitors out of business, making a profitable industry impossible.”

Roach cited Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that median ticket prices have dropped nearly 40 percent since 1980, while the costs of aircraft, airport leases and fuel have increased dramatically.

“Some industries are too critical to the United States to be allowed to regulate   themselves,” said Roach. “The airline industry drives $1.4 trillion in economic activity and contributes $692 billion per year to the Gross Domestic Product. It is too vital to the nation’s commerce to be ignored, taken for granted or left to its own destructive ways.”

The IAM’s complete testimony is available at www.goiam.org/mergers.

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