One of my friends was the psychologist on the team of Boeing engineers that designed the 707 727 737 and 747.
He said that this team was the most extraordinary group of engineers he had met in his lifetime and was doubtful that future airplanes could have the superb engineering that he saw.
I have no idea whether his observation and prediction was accurate. I have worked on airplane engineering and I have some idea of the complexity in such extraordinary engineering feats.
I have also noticed that extraordinary engineering feats come out of very small groups of engineers who are at the top of their fields. Such as spaceship and rocket design, aircraft, computers and biotech. These fields keep changing and the brilliant people keep moving on. You don't see such genius in engineering in old fields such as railroads, public transit or even automobiles (except for the Toyota hybrid).
Certainly the complexity of an airplane system and the extraordinary stresses that an airplane encounters suggests a very high level of engineering competence. Such competence may not be widely available to any industry. Certainly no bureaucracy could build a modern airliner.