Using regulation: An international comparative study of the civil aviation industry in Britain and Spain

Although liberalization is widely interpreted as the triumph of markets over institutions, it does not spell the end of regulation. The capacity of national institutions to regulate the market has diminished, but liberalization has not completely closed the traditional 'regulatory space' which industrial relations actors seek to exploit. At the same time, it has created new regulatory opportunities that have been mobilized to influence the pace and course of economic restructuring. This comparative study of the civil aviation industry in Britain and Spain shows how organized labour has used regulation to influence the economic restructuring programmes of the respective national flag-carriers, British Airways and Iberia.