Transport policy has dramatically changed over the last ten years with major regulatory reforms and privatisation of transport enterprises. Part 1 presents an authoritative statement of the theoretical arguments for and against regulatory reform, the changing political scene in North America and the different mechanisms that can be used to return state-owned monopolies to the private sector. Part 2 presents the empirical evidence on ten years of airline deregulation in the United States and this review is matched by an assessment of the different situation in Europe where national governments are under pressure to follow the same path.