Comment by nickpp

> I heard there used to be dozens of plane-building companies when the field was unregulated, with new, more efficient models and lower prices appearing regularly. I wonder what happened.

I heard that this is nonsense. There never were more than a handful of large aircraft builders (still are plenty of small ones), safety records certainly weren't better in the era before consolidation, and new entrants funded by the might of their governments have failed not because of regulation but because what airlines actually want is lots of identical aircraft from a reliable supplier and the new entrants haven't really been competitive in terms of performance either. The certification is complex, but so's building an aircraft, and it's really only the people further down the supply chain that need the protective umbrella...

But Boeing and Airbus kept desiging and building new and improved planes.

There are multiple aircraft manufacturers for smaller aircraft, and there are several showing up for electric aircraft today.

For jets, the capex required to build them is massive, and its never going to have an upstart just up and build a jet.

The regulations in place are the reason why its safe to fly, and airlines have the safety records they do.

This is the degree of safety end consumers want to be reassured that its safe to fly. The checks and balances in places create the market that you are hoping to give over to cheaper upstarts.

The market doesn't exist without that safety regulation.

See how people feel uneasy when flying Boeing after the decay of their engineering and quality culture became public knowledge.