If safety were also de-regulated we would have the opportunity to enjoy the same kind of improved results that we've seen in fares and schedules. Proponents of expanded government controls and coercion as the only reliable approach to improved safety scoff at the idea that a profit-hungry industry could monitor its own safety. But as we have seen from the earliest example contrasting public sector and private sector approaches, pursuit of profit is not in conflict with promotion of safety. It was the profit-seeking, privately funded Wright plane that safely achieved man's first flight. That the profit motive would be a more effective means of promoting safety than an army of bureaucrats should be self-evident.
Crashes also disrupt business and scare away passengers.
Profits will be hurt by either rising expenses or falling passenger revenues. Obviously, then, profit-seeking airlines have very strong economic incentives to conduct safe operations. The air disasters of 1985 are evidence for less, not more, government involvement in aviation.