You could chicken and egg it all the way back to the Wright bros I guess, but to be clear I was talking about modern era start ups. Every airline was a start up at some point, we all get that.

But the industry is finally finding a sustainable footing due in no small part to significant consolidation. The last thing we need now are more start ups following the typical CA's fly at FO wages, no maintenence and sweetheart airport deals offering impossibly low fares until reality (and longevity) sets in.

The DOT needs to do its job and rigorously enforce the financial fitness of prospective carriers. Obviously they have not been doing that because they pretty much rubber stamp almost anything that's willing to wait out the process and fill the forms out. Beyond that, the existing airlines, which absolutely include so called "LCC's", need to mercilessly crush any potentially viable future start up because even with the consolidation we've seen, there is still a ton of competiton and redundency in a largely commodity industry.

Add in severe volatility and extremely high CapEx for the long term, and the last thing we need are more zero longevity SJS start ups trashing yields and capacity dumping into existing markets. Its not good for any of us in the long run, including the vast majority of the start ups as they almost always end up closing the doors. Best case is they don't do enough damage to the industry to take any others with them.