Avionics News August 2013 - 15

the military and, therefore, exiting the military. Between 1990
and 2000, the U.S. Air Force reduced its operational footprint
by 50 percent, the U.S. Navy by 25 percent, while the Marines
remained relatively steady. According to a 2006 report regarding the U.S. Army, the Congressional Budget Office reported
the total helicopter inventory is less than half what it was in the
late 1980s and early 1990s. And following a similar 2009 CBO
report, the Air Force’s fighter inventory is about half its size
from the mid-1980s.
The bottom line is that a major “pipeline” for aviation
enthusiasts has a current throughput of only half what it had
during the glory years of general aviation. This highlights the
need to educate and recruit the next generation of aviators,
not from the military, but rather from the public in general.
And, in my humble opinion, the greatest obstacle to recruiting the next generation of aviators is the airports – more on
that in the second article.

In reviewing the average cost of an airline ticket departing
Kansas City International, the AEA’s home airport, the average
price of a ticket, after being adjusted for inflation, is up only
about 10 percent since 1995, while the face value of the ticket
has increased 40 percent. While the government no longer controls fares, routes and market entry of new airlines, the airlines,
through consolidation, mergers, and reorganizations, are doing
it themselves.
In a paper presentation at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the
Transportation Research Forum at the George Washington
University in March 2005, titled Airline Entry Following U.S.
Deregulation: The Definitive List of Startup Passenger Airlines,
1979-2003, professor William A. Jordan identified the original
23 airlines that were operating jet aircraft and had been given
certificates prior to 1978. Interestingly, according to Jordan, all
23 airlines had been granted certificates under the “grandfather”
provisions of the Civil Aeronautics Act in 1938. There were no
new entrants into interstate domestic service in 40 years under the CAA. By 1978,
The golden years of general aviation sales were 1965 to
only 11 of the original carriers remained
in service. And of these 11, only five were
1980. In all but three of those 16 years, general aviation
still operating in 2003.
aircraft annual sales exceeded 10,000 airplanes with
More to the point of competition, Jordan
the peak year of 17,811 in 1978, according to a 2010
identified that following the enactment of
the Airline Deregulation Act, there were
General Aviation Manufacturers Association report.
129 startup carriers operating during the
first 25 years of deregulation. By my
Second, the competing event was deregulation. The Airline
estimate, today there are only 10 major and discount airlines left
Deregulation Act was enacted in 1978. Prior to “deregulation,”
and some 27 regional carriers that primarily support four major
the federal government controlled the fares, routes and market
airlines: American, Delta, United and US Airways.
entry of new airlines into commercial aviation. The Airline
So why is general aviation positioned for a rebound? Simply
Deregulation Act phased out this control of the airline industry,
put, there are more passengers and fewer airlines. According to
eventually allowing passengers to be exposed to market forces.
the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation
In a Jan. 20, 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek blog, Supreme
Statistics, between 1995 and 2012, passenger enplanements
Court Justice Stephen Breyer reflected on the benefits and
increased by 100 million passengers while the available airline
hazards of the 1978 law. In the article, he cited, “In 1974, the
seat miles increased by only 7 million, resulting in overcrowdcheapest round-trip New York to Los Angeles flight (in inflationing, congestion and the airlines’ increasing inability to reroute
adjusted dollars) that regulators would allow was $1,442. Today,
disenfranchised passengers. While this is discouraging news for
one can fly that same route for $268.” With a new competitive
the airline passenger, it is promising news for the general aviatransportation industry, air travel jumped from 240 million pastion traveler, especially the private business traveler.
sengers in 1977, the year before the law was enacted, to 547
million in 1995, and 642 million domestic passengers in 2012.
Continued on page 55
avionics news

•

august

2013

Avionics News August 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News August 2013