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Civil Aeronautics Board

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Civil Aeronautics Board

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services (including scheduled passenger airline service) and, until the establishment of the National Transportation Safety Board in 1967, conducted air accident investigations. The agency was headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The authority of the Civil Aeronautics Board to regulate airlines was established by the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. The 1938 Act was amended by the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, but the main effect of that was to establish the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), which among other things regulated (as it still does) airline operations and safety. The 1966 Department of Transportation Act, which established the US Department of Transportation (DOT), had a bigger impact on the CAB. The 1966 Act established the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as part of DOT, which absorbed the CAB safety function, which was to investigate most airline accidents. Unlike the FAA, which (renamed as the Federal Aviation Administration) became part of DOT in the 1966 Act, the CAB remained an independent government agency.

While CAB regulation suppressed free competition, it provided security for the existing airlines, avoided gluts and shortages of passengers on certain routes, and (partly by allowing airlines to carry air mail) secured airline service for communities that would have otherwise been served less, or not have been served at all (due to low passenger traffic or other reasons).

CAB authority included:

Airlines had no ability to make competitive decisions, absent CAB approval, on choice of route or fare charged on any particular route.

The Act also prevented the CAB from regulating certain things: frequency, equipment, accommodations and facilities. It was up to the carrier to determine what aircraft it flew and how often and what airport or ticket facilities it built/rented, and so forth. However, the CAB did generally require a minimum adequate service, e.g. often two flights/day, in a market.

The Civil Aeronautics Authority Act of 1938 superseded the Watres Act, which had regulated commercial aviation since the mid-1920s, and created a new agency, the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The agency was renamed in 1940, due to a merger with the Air Safety Board. It became an independent agency under Reorganization Plans Nos. III and IV of 1940, effective on June 30, 1940. The Air Safety Board had formed in 1938.

Other predecessor agencies included the Aeronautics Branch (1926–1934), the Bureau of Air Commerce (1934–1938), and the Bureau of Air Mail, Interstate Commerce Commission (1934–38).

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