To be fair, they did not operate in today’s world. The airlines they sold to back then before deregulation had government-guaranteed profits and so were much le

To be fair, they did not operate in today’s world. The airlines they sold to back then before deregulation had government-guaranteed profits and so were much less focused on cost cutting than in today’s deregulated environment. For decades after deregulation the total net profit of all airlines was negative. (Might still be, I’m not sure.) The industry got really cost competitive, and so the planes they purchased had to as well.