Posted on 12/31/2010 8:50:56 AM PST by Beaten Valve
Alfred E. Kahn, who presided over the historic deregulation of the airline industry during the Carter administration, paving the way for JetBlue and other low-cost carriers, died Monday. He was 93.
Kahn, an economics professor at Cornell University, died of cancer at his home in Ithaca, N.Y., the school said in a statement. University spokeswoman Claudia Wheatley confirmed his death.
A leading scholar on public-utility deregulation, Kahn led the move to deregulate U.S. airlines as chief of the now-defunct Civil Aeronautics Board in 1977-78. The board had to give its approval before airlines could fly specific routes or change fares.
"Historically, the board has insisted on second-guessing decisions by individual carriers to offer price reductions," Kahn said in early 1978 as so-called "super-saver fares" swept the industry. "During the last several months we have been abandoning the paternalistic role, leaving the introduction of discount fares increasingly to the management."
President Jimmy Carter embraced deregulation as a means of stimulating economic growth. Kahn was largely instrumental in garnering the support needed to push through the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 — the first thorough dismantling of a comprehensive system of government control since 1935.
"I open my mouth and a fare goes down," he quipped to The Washington Post in 1978.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I have mixed emotions about this. I remember days when flying was fun and I actually fit in an airline seat (nope, I’m not fat).
Flying sucks big time. Dirty planes, lousy service, cramped seats, inability to do anything on time, possible entrapment on planes because airports can’t think of any means to disembark passengers when a gate is unavailable, and of course...TSA.
So, airlines, shove it up your.....er.....exhaust and bite me.
...and the almost 200 other airlines that have come and gone along with all their employees wouldn't have happened either. Another case of the government fixing a problem that didn't exist by replacing it with another more monumental one.
I can remember when it used to be prestigious to have an airline job.
Not anymore! now I know who to attribute that to.
RIP.
R.I.P. to Mr Kahn. Seems to me he had a real unique sense of humor iirc.
Airline ticket prices have declined about 40% since 1978.
A good deal more if you have time to order well in advance.
This is nothing to sneeze at. The percs have gone away, but then how many percs do you need to endure 2 to 5 hours? You can keep the percs, I’d rather have the cash.
Airline ticket prices have declined about 40% since 1978.
A good deal more if you have time to order well in advance.
This is nothing to sneeze at. The percs have gone away, but then how many percs do you need to endure 2 to 5 hours? You can keep the percs, I’d rather have the cash.
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