 Of course, each route had to be confirmed by the CAB, which, scantily staffed, was notoriously lethargic in its dealings.Several routes for which demand clearly existed lacked coach service well into the subsequent decade, acting as a continual source of embarrassment for the Board which insisted that federally-backed scheduled airlines perfectly served the needs of the American public.Over the early 1950s the CAB further increased its powers over large irregular carriers and continued investigating their operations.