3.3. New entrant airlines The final major strand of liberalization has been the emergence of new entrant airlines in almost every nation of Southeast Asia (Table 3). Historically, each national government in the region gave its flag carrier exclusive access to international routes. However, the emergence of increasingly powerful local entrepreneurs and businessmen intent on finding new sectors for investment has pushed the state to open up more opportunities in the airline industry (Bowen and Leinbach, 1995).