New entrants have created a competitive environment which features low prices and vast choice for millions of consumers. Benefits to consumers and the economy were immediate and lasting. Fares fell by an inflation-adjusted 30 percent between 1978 and 1983. Revenue-passenger miles more than doubled. Labor productivity increased by 120 percent between 1978 and 1993 and employment in the airline industry increased by more than 80 percent.
International deregulation brings similar benefits.
One example is the U.S.- Netherlands market, which was deregulated in 1992. Prior to 1992, there were 75 total weekly flights between the U.S. and Amsterdam. That number has now doubled to 150. Traffic on that route has grown a staggering 225 percent in just these few years. So, the results of excessive regulation of the air transport market in Japan have been predictable.