He is right though... planes can't fly at those previously cheap prices. It's just being subsidized one way or another, like Uber/Grab in it's initial year.

The entire Uber/Grab operation cost are subsidized by the investor during the incubation period. Apart from what gov charges, they also increase the price because they need to make profit.

A simple calculation would tell you their operations is not profitable when you are only paying like RM2 for a short ride which the driver also gets RM2.