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Old 17th Jan 2017, 14:57
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El Bunto
 
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Once Mr. Trump enters the White House you may just find that airlines that owe their success almost entirely to state sponsorship find life rather more difficult in the world marketplace.
All of the major US airlines have enjoyed state sponsorship over the decades. Remember how they received big mail transport contracts in thr 1920s and 1930s? Then the postwar CAB permitted fare collusion to ensure that everyone made a profit ( whilst at the same time railing against IATA ).

Post-deregulation that was superceded by more subtle support, such as antitrust decisions permitting weak ones to merge, Chapter 11 protection that allows persistently unprofitable ones to dump debt or the State Department negotiating favorable international treaties on their behalf.

There's not one surviving pre-1980 airline in the USA that didn't enjoy success as a result of state sponsorship.

Until JetBlue or Spirit ( ugh! ) starting flying internationally the USA can't criticise any other international airline's support.
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