[PokrLikeItsProse]

I suspect that airlines are unwilling to give up market share and would rather not cut flights during unprofitable periods because they want to maximize their share of the profits during boom periods.

My understanding is that the airline business is naturally cyclical and that companies can be expected to go through relative bust and boom periods. Airlines go broke when the bust period lasts too long or when they didn't make enough money during a boom period to absorb the losses of a bust period.