"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
if
you want to fly you will, and if the costs go up you sacrifice something
that is less important to stay flying.

That is only possible to a point. Then, the middle class drops out.

Nowhere for example in respect of the UK did they mention that all the
airports, Heathrow included are privately owned have shareholders and run
for a profit.

Just curious: Why, in a country far more socialist-leaning than the
U.S,, do you think the airports developed into non-municipal
entities?

Is all mass-transit privately owned in the UK? If not, why are
airports?

with the exception of the London Underground most is privately owned.The
railways are owned by a variety of companies including Virgin, Stagecoach
(who own a lot of the US school bus operators and have just bought out
Greyhound)

all the bus companies are also privately operated too as are the airlines.

One motorway (interstate) is also privately owned and has a government
franchise for the next 50 years and charges a toll.

I suspect that this notion of socialist leaning depends on your viewpoint.
My view would be that GA in the US is a real socialist leaning enterprise
with public ownership and federal subsidy at the level it is.

I am not aware of any UK aviation related activity which receives public
money as a subsidy (other than the Air Force) except perhaps in the far
reaches of the Scottish Isles.

As to why airports developed into non municipal entities - well many
municipalities ran their airports as full commercial ventures anyway and
when the value of the venture grew they sold them off to finance other
municipal activities already guaranteeing that the jobs and businesses
created would stay. They had no further need to be running an airport. Even
those still owned by the local authorities, like Manchester are run as
independent businesses with the stockholders getting a dividend.

Generally if you base an aircraft at an airfield fees cover tie downs and
all landings. At my field I don't pay for landings and I can do as many as I
want. So that stuff about landings was sheer garbage. I pay to land when I
fly away.