Troubles of the Airlines

Archive Report

Precarious Position of U.S. Airlines

Difficult Financial Position of Trunk Airlines

A plan to merge American Airlines and Eastern Air Lines was greeted on its announcement, January 23, by a burst of protest from members of Congress, labor leaders, and officials of competing air carriers. Only two weeks earlier, Chairman Alan S. Boyd of the Civil Aeronautics Board had suggested that consolidation offered a “particularly promising avenue for a solution” of airline problems.1 But Congress, the antitrust division of the Department of Justice, and C.A.B, itself appeared to have strong reservations about a merger which would result in formation of the biggest airline in the world.2

Concern over the shaky financial position of the airline industry is nevertheless widespread. Revenues of the 11 domestic trunk lines3 exceeded ...

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