A Gala Goodbye to the CAB

The party at the Washington Hilton last Friday night was a grand bash. Hundreds of guests mingled convivially, munching on fried chicken, hand-carved roast beef and ham. As the good spirit, and good spirits, flowed, the only odd note was the cause of the celebration: Government employees, past and present, were saluting the abolition of their agency, the Civil Aeronautics Board.

Created in 1938 to regulate airline fares and assign routes, the CAB is scheduled to go out of business on Jan. 1. Its demise will be the final step in the process of airline deregulation that began in 1978 and has led to fierce competition in the industry. Alfred Kahn, who spearheaded the deregulation drive as CAB chairman under President Carter, joined several other former members of the board and dozens of ex-staffers from across the U.S. to raise a glass last week. Kahn said he was always confident that the CAB would be doomed once deregulation got going. "My plan," he declared, "was to scramble the eggs so much that nobody could unscramble them."

A CAB official emphasized that the sunset celebration was paid for by the agency's employees, not the Government. But, he quipped, "even if we did use taxpayers' money, what could they do--shut us down?"