Originally Posted by
43Inches
You can, but you have to keep subsidizing it somehow. That's how public transport works, or even the road system in reality, we all subsidize the roads through various taxes and therefore road transport can run much cheaper than if you paid full cost per ride. If 777 wants to continue to sell tickets at a loss to gain market share that's up to them, at present all the airlines except QF have backers with deep pockets, what they decide to do with their money is entirely up to them.
comparing a government body with a commercial company is invalid from an economics analysis as the government can print more money, increase taxes and charges almost arbitrarily.
You didn’t mention that the big names behind Virgin 1 pulled the pin after major loses
777 Partners seems to have had a colourful past and many law suits over lack of payments