Whether intentional or not, last week’s announcement by the Biden Administration of an inquiry into business practices of the commercial airline industry smells awfully like a politically motivated effort to help out Vice President Kamala Harris’ floundering campaign. Sure, it could be legit, but holding it until two weeks before election day to announce it raises some red flags.
The actual “inquiry,” as announced, seems broad but does not identify specific instances of alleged wrongdoing by the aviation industry. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division and Transportation (DOT) “jointly announced a broad public inquiry into the state of competition in air travel” relating to “consolidation, anticompetitive conduct and a wide range of issues affecting the availability and affordability of air travel options,” including “previous airline mergers, exclusionary conduct, airport access, aircraft manufacturing, airline ticket sales, pricing and rewards practices and the experiences of aviation workers.” Alrighty, but why now?
As a more-frequent-than-I-would-like flyer, I know that, of course, air travel is........