On the old Leeds Bradford thread this topic came up plenty of times. With all the costs for much-needed construction projects looming having a private partner in control of LBA is probably more important now than ever before.
The scheme under discussion seems to be the sale of a 51% stake to a private company. The carrot of about 200 million pounds (approximate sale price of NCL stake a few years ago) is being dangled in front of the local voters.
The Yorkshire Evening Post ran a Comment article that was surprisingly strongly in favour of privatisation.
http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticl...icleID=1230812
With the composition of the five Councils that own the airport as they stand at present (ie Con-Lib alliances in Leeds and Bradford), this is the first time that the issue of privatisation has made it past the old ideological hurdles.