Political convenience is a big one with them. At least with the passenger airplanes, their only competitor is very non-American Airbus, so they’re not only too big to fail but too embarrassing to fail.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if in 10 years their liners regularly fall out of the sky, and the US government just covers it up domestically the way China does with a lot of their corner cutting.

That being said, I can’t rule out that their bid wasn’t just better here, at least on paper.