Usually described as state industries, European airlines have been criticised as uncompetitive, overstaffed and subsidised. But this view begs the question of why and how the state became involved in air transport, as well as the question of whether airlines could have succeeded in Europe and elsewhere without government support. This study of the complicated history of relations between the state and the air transport industry in Europe travels from the earliest scheduled flights down to the era of liberalisation and privatisation in the 1990s. Martin Staniland concentrates on four key countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, exploring both the sources of support for airlines in Europe and the reasons why public ownership lost favour as the industry expanded. In particular, Staniland examines links between the airlines and national aircraft builders and ministries concerned with defence, foreign policy and colonial administration. The author concludes by considering the crises and restructuring experienced by national airlines in the 1980s and 1990s and the related political battles over privatisation.