[ultrarunner]

I don't disagree with your overall point, but I think it's important to keep in mind that these companies often want more regulation— especially regulation that they're already compliant with. Of course EASA compliant airlines don't want to open things up to airlines that can operate more cheaply. Whether or not that's solely a consideration of safety is less clear.

Age 67 is another example where unions do not want more competition. I imagine a hypothetical relaxation of CPL regs would be similarly opposed by airlines and unions alike as they certainly wouldn't welcome the resultant competition. Desire for regulation can have many motivations.