What fools are buying., page-248

QANTAS has to compete with whichever airline is in the most trouble and dropping their prices the most. This is what Buffet meant when he talked about needing a "moat". He means a monopoly in some service or industry sector. Airlines have no moat except for the slots they can monopolise at critical hubs like Changi. But when business drops off, these slots become a big cost liability to maintain.

You can be sure each country's government will bend over backwards to support their own national carriers and airlines but ironically this will have a reverse effect as it allows those airlines to keep operating at low prices for longer instead of shaking out the weaklings. Already Trump is talking about tax deferments for US carriers. It's a race to the bottom as each country must heap stimulus on their own to offset the other.