Boeing gets massive government assistance. Aside from their Defense and Space business (which is facing some serious problems now) which is basically direct federal money, US trade policy encourages sale of commercial aircraft internationally.

Big industrial companies selling overseas get much more assistance from the federal government than any small computer company hacker news people would be familiar with. The US does this a lot less than most countries, too, but it definitely exists.

Boeing has far closer ties to the government than a tech startup would.