Innovation and Consolidation.

Aeronautics in the 1980s experienced many technological improvements built on achievements from the previous two decades. Such progress was hampered in some fields by economic realities and enhanced in others by political imperatives. Issues such as safety, pollution, the arms race, and government spending became fully intertwined with aerospace technology. As a result, aviation developed into a field with enormous socio-economic implications ranging from leisure travel to high-technology industrial development. Some observers nevertheless argue that the fluctuations the field underwent in the 1980s point to its having yet to reach maturity.

No-Frills Flying.

The 1980s were a period of upheavals for the commercial aviation industry. Following the deregulation trend begun in the United States in 1978, economic control of the industry was lifted in favor of letting market forces act. The rationale that high levels of competition would winnow out inefficient airlines and...