The President of the United States who signed the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 into law was Jimmy Carter. This landmark legislation was a primary component of his administration's broader effort to reduce government oversight and foster free-market competition in key industries. Before this act, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) controlled almost every aspect of air travel, including which routes airlines could fly and the exact prices they could charge, which kept ticket prices high and competition low. Carter's decision to deregulate the industry led to a dramatic shift in how Americans traveled; it allowed for the rise of low-cost carriers, the implementation of the "hub and spoke" system, and a significant drop in average ticket prices, making air travel accessible to the general public for the first time. While it led to the eventual bankruptcy of some historic "legacy" carriers, Carter's move is widely regarded as the most significant turning point in the history of commercial aviation, democratizing the skies and forever changing the economic landscape of the industry.