The CAB was a now defunct federal agency that tightly controlled almost all US commercial air transport during that period.
Prior to 1979, the CAB regulated its carriers as a cartel,[4] strictly limiting competition between them and setting uniform fare levels nationally.
One indication of this long-term struggle is that of the surviving US legacy carriers, all have gone through bankruptcy since 1978 with the exception of Alaska Airlines.
A complete list of CAB-regulated scheduled airlines in 1978, the last year of the regulated era, is available in the Civil Aeronautics Board article.
Federally-controlled waters start three miles offshore, which made most flights between islands subject to federal regulation.
[31][32] Including the earlier shutdowns of Braniff in 1982 (see above) and Wien Air Alaska in 1984,[33] by 1991, four former CAB jet passenger airlines ceased operating.