Based on the publicly available information, that is not a fair assessment. With respect to Air Canada, which has public financial data, that would not be true. The best evidence of the serious doubts about the veracity of those statements is that none of the airlines have filed for any kind of bankruptcy protection or insolvency, or any kind of proceeding that would signal that they are in financial distress.
Even if they were in financial distress, it does not mean that they can pick and choose which creditors they are paying first. Passengers' money and airfares paid in advance is often money held in trust. Quite possibly those would be secured creditors, or other rules may apply to their rights that they may precede other creditors.
That is what bankruptcy courts are for—to make sure that those decisions are made fairly. If there is a risk of bankruptcy, it is not for the government to decide which creditors, whether it is passengers or banks, will be first in the line.