Blog Post #3 - Backdoor Wheeling and Dealing

In Tom Crouch’s Wings, the author details post-WWII aircraft industry corruption, with bribes and government interference in the awarding of airplane contracts worldwide and quid pro quo from industry giants into influential politicians’ war chests (526-27).  Many would think that these actions exist only in history, but it seems that would be wrong.

There is a recent news article from Bloomberg Business, entitled “Did United Put a Whole Route in the Sky for One Very Important Passenger” that brings up the old image of greasing the palms of men and women of power.  Although the article’s title is phrased as a question, it is pretty clear that Bloomberg has ferreted out an actual instance of blatant corruption.

Some may have already heard of David Samson, the previous Chairman of the New York/New Jersey Port Authority (or at least of “bridge-gate” in which some political shenanigans in New Jersey Port Authority and Governor’s office caused the closing of certain portions of the George Washington Bridge resulting in gridlock, mass confusion, political fallout, and a Federal investigation).  And now this revelation, that United Airlines, a major player in the New Jersey/New York area transportation hub, created a weekly flight to and from a South Carolina airport that Samson used exclusively until he resigned from the Port Authority (and then, conveniently, United discontinued the flight).

A sentence from the article really caught my eye, “U.S. airline schedules haven't been regulated for nearly 40 years, and air routes that please an important member of Congress, regulator, or business executive aren't so unusual” (Bachman).  What? This story was published one day after the subject of my previous blog post about the FAA changing flight patterns.  It just makes me wonder how the airline industry is ever going to mature and become truly innovative if they and the government regulators who are supposed to be in charge of things can’t get their acts together and stop this blatant corruption.

Bachman, Justin. “Did United Put a Whole Route in the Sky for One Very Important Passenger?” Bloomberg Business. 25 February 2015. Web. 18 April 2015.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-25/did-united-put-a-whole-route-in-the-sky-for-one-very-important-passenger-?cmpid=yhoo

Crouch, Tom.  Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age.  New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.  Print.