is the u s airline industry an oligopoly 
with just four companies controlling nearly two thirds of all domestic flights in the u s as of 2021 it has been purported that the airline industry is an oligopoly these four companies are delta airlines united airlines holdings southwest airlines and american airlines according to a report compiled by the white house reduced competition contributes to increasing fees like baggage and cancellation fees these fees are often raised in lockstep demonstrating a lack of meaningful competitive pressure and are often hidden from consumers at the point of purchase 2 interestingly in 1978 the airline deregulation act was imposed which stripped away the civil aeronautics board the ability to regulate the industry 3 prior to this time the airline industry operated much like a public utility while fare prices had declined 20 years before the deregulation was introduced the bottom linethere is no such thing as perfect competition in the market but there are different market structures including oligopolies these types of markets are characterized by a small number of participating firms which may work together to set prices 