The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has suspended two regulatory actions on the US civil aviation initiated in the final days of the previous Administration. The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Display of Ancillary Fees would have allowed the government to dictate how airlines sell and distribute products and services, and the Request for Information on Airline Distribution Practices would have allowed the government to interfere in the commercial relationship between airlines and their distribution partners.

Since the airline industry was deregulated four decades ago, federal agencies have imposed insulated judgment about consumer preferences and misguided notions of how the market should function. Today, the airline industry operates under 13,000 regulations across 13 agencies, many of which are outdated, obsolete and in need of reform, Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the major U.S. airlines, stated.

“We applaud Secretary Chao’s leadership today and look forward to an era of smarter regulation that protects consumers from unfair practices, but does not step in when action is not warranted,” said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. “Today’s action is a common sense measure reinforcing that the airline industry is capable of making the decisions that best serve our customers, our employees and the communities we serve.”

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President Trump, airline CEOs discuss national aviation reform
In the meeting with the CEOs of major US airlines and airports on the 9th of February 2017, US President Donald Trump stated his support of the national aviation industry which provides over 10 million jobs. The US airline industry alone employs nearly 700,000 people.
 

Flying today is more accessible and affordable than ever, and satisfaction is high. According to A4A’s Status of Air Travel in the United States annual survey, 85% of 2016 passengers said they were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied,” indicating that carriers are responding to the needs of passengers and activist over-regulation is not warranted.