Whilst working in IT for 25 + years, I was in a very wide range of companies (both as full time and contractor and consultant). These were across the South East of England and in other countries. The one consistent factor was "How can we employ less people?"
From that stemmed shortcuts, cutbacks, a desire to automate as much as possible and then outsource the rest. When 'managers' were given budgetary control and made 'departmental profit centres' they quickly lost any interest in other parts of the business. Instead of seeing themselves as part of a process, they became the one-and-only. The idea that the company starts with (say) advertising and runs through ticket sales to the moment the client leaves an airport (over which you have little control but your staff will make YOUR client's progress smoother than any others) 10,000 miles away ... that is old history.
In short, the age old desire to lower the price so as to sell more and then make more. In this, the airline business is identical to every other. This may sound dismal and disheartning but I can only report on my 42 years of being a Pax.