Originally Posted by
bedrock
The airlines' ace in the hole is the govt. The govt. will not allow air service to collapse. All it takes is an "executive order"--and these are growing more and more common, to adopt MPL, allow govt. loans, or delegate training to someone like Boeing (who is already getting in the business.) Reagan fired all the Air Traffic Controllers and replaced with military, govt. could do same. There will be pain, undoubtedly, but the airlines aren't going to suffer. So they will just wait it out to see who will cry uncle. The travelling public will scream bloody murder when that wave hits, the govt. will be paying the cost of clean-up, the airlines will profit.
An executive order addressing pilot certification would be in direct contradiction of a law. It would not stand up in court.
Air Traffic Controllers are government employees. The government can fire whoever they want. Several states have followed suit by eliminating collective bargaining for government employees.