The 80£ were boom years as two-tier, booming economy and first blush of deregulation came in. Every airline was hiring p (there were probably 8 or 9 then, before the first round of consolidations. The 70s, however really sucked, made the 90s look like boom years—bloat of boom hiring in the ‘60s, two fuel crisies, inflation and interest at 18%. So, this is the way of aviation.