WASHINGTON -- The recession hurt the nation's airline industry last year but cheaper plane tickets encouraged more passengers to travel, a congressional report said Monday.
The General Accounting Office said in the study, 'The Changing Airline Industry: a Status Report through 1982,' last year's air fares fell below 1981 levels.
'The airline industry, which is sensitive to general economic conditions, was adversely affected in 1982 by a third consecutive year of a slow economy,' the report said.
'However, during the year passengers were lured to air travel by discount pricing,' it said.
The report by Congress' watchdog arm said during the first two years of the airline industry's deregulation -- in 1978 and 1979 -- the number of passengers increased by about 30 million annually.
It said 1980 and 1981 saw 18.5 million and 7.6 million fewer passengers traveling by air respectively, but during 1982 the figure rose by 12.4 million.
'Since deregulation began, airline traffic has increased substantially, the report said.
There were 287.9 million passengers using domestic air service in 1982, compared with 275.5 million the year before and 283.1 million in 1980.
The GAO said it examined Transportation Department statistics that showed no evidence of deregulation adversely affecting air traffic safety.
According to government figures, scheduled airlines cut their overall accident rate last year compared with 1981. However, the report noted that two major accidents resulted in 231 deaths, raising the 1982 fatality rate significantly above that of 1981, when only three deaths occurred.