No, you completely misunderstand. Canon's not some burger joint and they are not stupid. A burger joint doesn't tell it's customers that if you want a burger you have to buy fries along with it. They give you what you want. Buy the meal deal or buy just the burger, or, just the fries. You know, "Have It Your Way", from one of the most successful burger joints in the world. Canon is not dumb enough to try to push bundles vs cameras alone when it gains them nothing but frustrated potential customers and a loss of sales. No burger joint would do that either.
Somebody underestimated something. My bet is that supply chain issues were underestimated. Not just in getting cameras to the dealers but in even getting them made because of component and material shortages. It takes months to get a camera from the factory, into a container, onto a ship, across the ocean and into a port and from there to the distribution warehouses, and then on to the dealer. It takes only a couple of days to do the same by air. Before you claim that's too expensive, no, it's not. For that matter it has probably already been done numerous times by Canon and other camera manufacturers. If Canon is willing, as you claim, to offer a $100 discount to push a scheme that is obviously not working, and having seen the unfulfilled demand and heard from frustrated customers you can bet they would be loading up UPS 747s and FedEx MD11s as quickly as possible to get those cameras to the dealers. After all, sales is king, even if you have to eat some transportation costs. Right?
Canon doesn't have the product to ship. Somebody underestimated or got blindsided.

You are correct about the cost of air freight not being that expensive. Back in the day, when the 747 cargo version appeared, it revolutionized the fresh produce market. I worked my way through college and part-time for several years after (total of 13 years) working at a Ralph's Market in Huntington Park, CA. One Holiday season, suddenly we started having more strawberries etc. available at only slightly more than normal. Beside the home-grown CA products and the ones trucked or brought in by train from Mexico, we started seeing fresh fruits and vegetables from South America, New Zealand and other places. Many of the cases they arrived in had "air freight" markings. About that same time in papers and magazines there were articles about the 747 Air Freighter and how it was changing the markets for smallish, relatively light and valuable products. One in particular talked about an air freight company that specialized in fruits and vegetables to the US from Chile.

So for something like cameras and lenses I would guess that air freight is probably a huge player.

No, you completely misunderstand. Canon's not some burger joint and they are not stupid. A burger joint doesn't tell it's customers that if you want a burger you have to buy fries along with it. They give you what you want. Buy the meal deal or buy just the burger, or, just the fries. You know, "Have It Your Way", from one of the most successful burger joints in the world. Canon is not dumb enough to try to push bundles vs cameras alone when it gains them nothing but frustrated potential customers and a loss of sales. No burger joint would do that either.
Somebody underestimated something. My bet is that supply chain issues were underestimated. Not just in getting cameras to the dealers but in even getting them made because of component and material shortages. It takes months to get a camera from the factory, into a container, onto a ship, across the ocean and into a port and from there to the distribution warehouses, and then on to the dealer. It takes only a couple of days to do the same by air. Before you claim that's too expensive, no, it's not. For that matter it has probably already been done numerous times by Canon and other camera manufacturers. If Canon is willing, as you claim, to offer a $100 discount to push a scheme that is obviously not working, and having seen the unfulfilled demand and heard from frustrated customers you can bet they would be loading up UPS 747s and FedEx MD11s as quickly as possible to get those cameras to the dealers. After all, sales is king, even if you have to eat some transportation costs. Right?
Canon doesn't have the product to ship. Somebody underestimated or got blindsided.

Several airlines still fly the passenger version on really long hauls. Often with expanded business class sections etc.

Several major airfields around the world have companies that specialize in conversion of passenger versions to freighters.

Unless they get a last minute order for new ones, production is supposed to end next month when they complete delivery of their last order.

Boeing is testing the 777X to replace the 747 with the first deliveries to airlines planned for 2025.

My late Father worked as a ground crew foreman for Eastern Airlines at Lambert Field, St Louis (also state Vice-President for the Airline Workers and Machinist's Union) and a few months after I got out of the Army in 1969 they started seeing the first 747s. He said the first one or two to land at Lambert, parts of the airport including airline ground crews practically shut down as everyone who could think of an excuse scrambled to get a close look at them.
They earned the nickname "The Messiah" because so many getting their first look exclaimed "Jesus Christ" at the size of the plane inside and out.