And now they're begging for money. Let them go under, so the people will stop traveling in hordes, Stay home.
Airlines are already losing tons of money because of the travel bans.
If they shut down domestic travel as well, the losses will be astronomical.
They have fixed expenses that don't stop when the nation hits the pause button, and none of this is their fault. You can make an argument that they should have been reserving some cash instead of doing stock buybacks, but that practice certainly isn't unique to airline companies. Plus airlines don't operate on huge margins. The gross dollar amounts are huge, but the net profit is small by comparison - so if you shut down the incoming cash it doesn't take very long to be in a bankrupt situation.
When this is behind us and the country gets back to work, people will need jobs. If we have to wait on airlines to sort their shit out after bankruptcies/mergers/closings in the aftermath that isn't good for anyone. We only have 4 huge airline companies in the United States as it is (American, Delta, Southwest and United). Without a bailout to keep them all whole, we'll likely see some consolidating. So instead of 4 big airlines, we'll only have 2. Or even 1. That creates a whole other set of problems down the road that will last a lot longer than a virus.
As a rule - I hate bailouts. But this one is needed.
They should definitely make sure the money is used to keep their business afloat and their employees as whole as possible, not to line the pockets of stockholders and executives.