This reading edition presents the supporting record, including dates, limits and open questions. It preserves the recorded findings; a source note is not a certification that every claim is settled.
- Case
- Aviation: discretion, competition, service and public support
- Working source
- WP-031, March 2026 draft, sections I, IV and V
- Working source file fingerprint
- 72c505bc575e9c2a995d06f3797d4a8a5b65f73871b8564c4649e303746e2176
- Preserved principle
- The central finding is not that deregulation caused these crises but that industries cannot claim free-market freedoms while retaining public rescue eligibility.
- Editorial reconciliation
- WP-031 also acknowledges efficiency gains and says the rescue cycle does not occur in every sector. Do not carry its every-sector language forward as a tested causal result. Its $59 billion airline figure is not certified as a reconciled total across all historical interventions.
- Rows
Stage Finding Source Date Limit Rule change The 1978 Airline Deregulation Act phased out federal control of domestic fares and service. Open source 2006-06-09 This identifies the institutional change; it does not attribute every later outcome to that act. Competition and consolidation GAO’s 2026 review found short-run fare increases of 1–8% in three strong merger studies on overlapping routes. Its longer-term indicators nevertheless suggested increased competition; estimated fares including available ancillary fees were lower in 2024 than in 2007. Open source 2026-06-25 Route-specific merger effects and broad trends answer different questions. Neither proves a universal path from consolidation to higher fares. Citizen access GAO reported average daily departures per route at nonhub airports were 19% lower in 2024 than in 2018. More than 70% of nonhub airports without EAS support experienced declines. Open source 2026-06-04 Nonhub airports are a defined population. Workforce and operating costs also matter; this is not an isolated estimate of deregulation’s effect. Public intervention CBO reported $63 billion provided for pandemic payroll support and $59 billion distributed. The separate Section 4003 loan program authorized up to $46 billion and distributed less than $3 billion. Open source 2026-06-25 Payroll assistance supported employee pay. The loan program also included national-security businesses. Authority, cash distributed and net cost are different measures. Return and remaining exposure Recipients of the largest payroll awards issued $15 billion in notes; more than half remained outstanding in April 2026. Public companies also issued warrants. Open source 2026-06-25 Repayments and asset proceeds belong in a cost reconciliation. These facts do not prove that the support had no worker or public benefit. - Remaining scope
- This is one completed source comparison. Full seven-sector history, individual rescue terms and public-result analysis remain unfinished.