I interpret it as similar to the train situation in the book “Alas Shrugged”. The airline industry survived through bailouts - it’s essentially on government life support.

A lot of the companies which should have failed decades ago still exist due to government. And a lot of the practices are so over regulated and not handled by knowledgeable professionals that failures are bound to happen. They are “Zombie companies”. This is true for a lot of industries but even more so than trains, airplanes make it very obvious when they start to fail.