Originally Posted by
SWBKCB
I think he means selling STN and EMA, and using the 60 odd percentage of the local council ownership to concentrate on the airport being a region assett.
Originally Posted by
dave59
Exactly. At the moment we have money grabbing councils with no accountability and privateers pick pocketing passengers and destroying any aspect of a quality airport experience.
I'm really not clear on what you would expect to see change in either scenario (full public, or full private, ownership). Drop-off charges, parking fees and the likes are not going to disappear or decrease under either scenario. Whether you like it or not, they're here to stay, and they're only going to increase over time. Is there a single major UK airport that doesn't have drop-off charges? None spring to mind.
Skipness One Foxtrot has summed up the issue very neatly above - airlines have cut airport operating margins to the bone, and therefore airport operators have to generate revenue through other avenues. As long as passengers expect cheap flights, this is the world we live in now.
Something obviously needs to be done to tackle the staffing issue, but I don't see how the options you propose would do anything to resolve that.