Air travel is a vital component of the global economy

Air travel is a vital component of the global economy. However, to say that the airlines are being or had been subsidised by governments in various ways is only partly true
1. Government ownership does not necessarily translate into subsidy
2. Subsidy to Manufacturers is not necessarily dirctely passed to airlines
3. Export credits are not a subsidy but a financing tool
Airlines seem to be weathering this recession better than most, thanks to an oil price spike that forced the airlines to review their fleets and introduce efficiencies and of course the oil crises weeded out the weaker airlines. Governments did not bother to bail out the airlines then and I do not see why now. 2009 Q1 results have been affected but they are not worse than during the oil crisis, one might say that for some they are actually better, but then we have to see Q2 and Q3 results to see the effect of a deepening recession. The industry is very resilient and reacts quicker to changing environments. than most other sectors maybe because of the sensivity of air travel to current conditions being political (wars and conflicts), health (SARS, Avian Flu and H1N1), and economic conditions (recessions and oil prices). All these conditions affect travel demand and in certain conditions airline have no direct influence to change the conditions.
Demand is less in most areas and we are seeing deep discounting and I am sure in time we will see airlines going out of business and certain government airlines getting huge subsidies.
However, the area where governments may have to intervene is Aircraft Financing. The credit crunch is curtailing the ability of airlines to borrow to get aircraft that they may need to expand or improve their efficiencies.Governments have can offer more export credits and maybe loan guarantees. No matter what the form of subsidy it will not be more than a fraction that other sectors have recieved”