Bloomberg quotes our own Richard Clarke in this story about the antitrust investigation of the GDS industry that has been launched by the US Department of Justice. Until just a few years ago the GDSs were heavily regulated in order to prevent them favouring one airline over another. Now it seems that - in the USA at least - all the airlines are finding common cause against the distribution companies that they no longer own. The growth of online distribution and the rapid development of airline merchandising mean that the distribution environment is much more complex than it was in 1984 when the original GDS regulations were produced. If the DoJ is to do a proper job of considering new regulations it will need time and clear-headed analysis.