Re:Want airline food? Take Amtrak
by ComradeTaco on Friday April 20, 2018 @09:06PM
(#16889461)
It's also worth considering that the American government has massively subsidized the airline industry. Trillions of dollars in defense spending for aircraft has propped up Boeing and its predecessors during hard times. That spending massively advanced civilian aircraft. Training pilots is another massive cost, which is mitigated by former American military pilots.
Just a thought, but if you're interested in numbers, it's an eye-opener to look at how much money airlines have lost for shareholders, bondholders, and the government via bankruptcies. If passenger rail was ever capable of tearing chunks out of the economy the way the airlines are, it must have been a century ago.
From 2011: "The industry in aggregate has lost about $60 billion over the 32 years since deregulation"
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/12/16/143765367/why-...
I'm pretty sure airlines are one of those unusual industries in the US (like banking) that have throughout their existence lost more money than they've ever actually generated in profit and have been kept whole by the government. Sorry I don't have any hard figures on that.