Is it though? Or is it the fact that airlines are able to externalize their environmental costs, and are generally both under-taxed and subsidized.

[edit] I'm not saying that rail isn't subsidized - it usually is, and often heavily, to be clear. It's the environmental impact that's the thrust of my claim.

> externalize their environmental costs

It's that + Every step of the aviation industry is subsidized by state actors. oil companies are also incentivised to support as airlines are a massive consumer of karosene that would otherwise be a cheap byproduct of oil refining