As established airlines cut fares to meet this challenge, they often decided to cut back or even drop service to smaller, less-profitable markets. Some of this service later was restored as new "commuter" airlines, often divisions of larger carriers, sprang up. These smaller airlines may have offered less frequent and less convenient service (using older propeller planes instead of jets), but for the most part, markets that feared loss of airline service altogether still had at least some service. Most transportation companies initially opposed deregulation, but they later 75

came to accept, if not favor, it. For consumers, the record has been mixed. Many of the low-cost airlines that emerged in the early days of deregulation have disappeared, and a wave of mergers among other airlines may have decreased competition in certain markets. Nevertheless, analysts generally agree that air fares are lower than they would have been had regulation continued. And airline travel is booming. In 1978, the year airline deregulation began, passengers flew a total of 226,800 million miles (362,800 million kilometers) on U.S. airlines. By 1997, that figure had nearly tripled, to 605,400 million passenger miles (968,640 kilometers).