Mayor Pete and the FAA’s Plan for Higher Fares

To alleviate air-traffic woes, the government proposes to commit an antitrust offense

By Holman W. Jenkins. Excerpts:

"The FAA last week called on carriers to cut flights 10% this summer in the busy New York region to accommodate its controller shortage, virtually guaranteeing higher fares and fewer choices. Yes, the Biden administration is committing the antitrust sin it accuses JetBlue and Spirit of."

"London City Airport now has a digital control tower allowing personnel to be used far more efficiently. Canada’s system has been commercially self-funding since 1996 and speedily incorporates new technology. The U.S. still relies on radar operators handing slips of paper to each other.

Reforming air-traffic control would actually be the best way to enhance competition. Fuel costs and delays would be lessened. Carriers could more quickly deploy planes wherever price signals dictate."

"Near misses at airports, apparently due to the post-Covid introduction of thousands of less-experienced workers, are being addressed the only way the system can: by slowing things down and aggravating customers."

"In 1993, Vice President Al Gore, as part of his Reinventing Government initiative, attempted a root-and-branch reform of the air traffic control system and succeeded—his idea was adopted in Canada. Donald Trump strove to revive the plan for the U.S. but was thwarted by a pork-barreling Congress."

"JetBlue and Spirit make a reasonable case that their deal would create more competition against the four giants that account for 80% of the domestic air-travel market. Their merger is remarkably unopposed by economists except a few cultists who long for 1978’s deregulation to be undone.

Justice’s opposition seems mainly a matter of adhering to an anti-merger bias the administration has adopted to appease progressives. Permeating its case is an unrealistically static notion of airline competition: Though airplanes are highly mobile assets, competitors somehow won’t descend on routes where fares go up if JetBlue and Spirit no longer are rivals."