Airline Deregulation stands for the competition based market for the airline companies in the United States.

Airline Deregulation refers to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 of the United States of America. The said act is remarkable in itself that it changed the business prospects for certain industries in the United States and gave them thorough independence. Before the passing of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the industries like trucking, railroads, buses, cable television, stock exchange brokerage, oil and gas, telecommunications, financial markets, and even local electric and gas utilities were functioning under the government control. But in 1978, the Supreme Court in the United States of America repealed the National Recovery Act of 1935 and declared it as unconstitutional and an impediment in the way of progress of certain industries.

This verdict of the Supreme Court cast a healthy influence on the above said industries of the United States which were not regulated now by any codes of certain act but by the competition in the market. The critics admire Airline Deregulation Act as an epoch-making development in the business history of the United States. The industries in the United States were able to expand the network of their customers and flourished within a very short span of time. The substantial increase in the profits of these industries provided enormous advantage to government itself in the form huge tax collection. On the other hand the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 also provided the customers an opportunity to have competitive prices and a variety of products. These advantages of the Airline Deregulation Act gave confidence to the proponents who advocated the act as an important milestone towards a competitive market.

But it is also a fact that in spite of its too many advantages, Airline Deregulation Act has also caused some problems as well. It leveled the way for certain broad-based companies to monopolize the market. In case of airline companies, the Airline Deregulation Act helped a mushroom growth of airlines. Under a cut-throat competition, the airline companies attracted more and more customers for their destination resulting into overcrowded airports and jam-packed flights. In some respects, the quality was also sacrificed on the cost of mere quantity. In the absence of any code of regulation, the business environment after Airline Deregulation Act aimed at increasing profits. This sort of tendency exploited ultimately the customers. They were forced to buy products against the prices set by airlines having monopoly in the market.   

But, in general estimation, Airline Deregulation Act proved a success. The initial problems caused by the passing of the act vanished with the passage of time and gave its critics no room to highlight its bad effects. The consequence of the act also helped the policy makers to create laws stopping monopoly of industries by certain companies. The government also realized that independence of the industries under minimum regulations can guarantee maximum advantages.  Today the market in the United States of America is competition-ridden market. It is the offshoot of Airline Deregulation Act which proved also helpful for many other countries of the world to take similar steps to boost their industries.