From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Turbulent times for America's Airlines.

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Since deregulation,

America's airlines have expanded by a factor of 10, and there has not been a major crash

since 2001. But safety concerns have been raised by the recent groundings of thousands of flights

and evidence that the FAA is too cozy with the companies it's supposed to regulate.

On to the point, we'll ask if the agency's

trying to reassert itself and reassure the flying public that all is well. Were passengers

really at risk? With airlines folding, going bankrupt and looking at mergers, are the industry

and its passengers in for a troubled future. On reporter's notebook later on, will an atom smasher in Switzerland swallow the earth?

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point. After whistleblowers

told Congress the FAA allowed Southwest Airlines to bypass inspections, thousands of flights have

been grounded. On To the Point, is it really about safety, or is the FAA trying to reassert itself?

Has the Bush administration gone overboard

with deregulation? Can the airline industry, as we know it, survive the skyrocketing price of fuel?

On reporter's notebook, an $8 billion project in Switzerland will recreate the conditions that existed

...