You know, here we are, a start-up airline with, at the time, one airplane.

And with more start-up airlines farming out work to other companies, who can really assess an airline's pedigree anymore?

Foreign carriers should be allowed to invest in start-up airlines, the group said.

They are part of the rapid growth in the number of start-up airlines in recent years.

They note that carriers that go out of business are often replaced by start-up airlines.

He added, "They've got the initial growing pains that any start-up airline might have."

Might that be detrimental to a start-up airline like JetBlue?

Now, a start-up airline called Eos says it is prepared to make it a bit more brutal.

Eventually the start-up airline was bought by another major carrier.

By that measure, start-up airlines like Valujet are relatively safe.