RSOman
"The airline may is not a charity".
Now lets examine that comment. For GBP5000, I could buy a decent second hand small car or sports motorbike, or have a week in a five star hotel somewhere rather nice. Or I could buy 2x 10 hours in a half decent flat seat in which I can sleep, though I would get a much bigger bed in a railway carriage or cross channel ferry for a tenth of the price.
Stop the press !, my oath ! you are so right the airline is not a charity 
Now as a GA light twin driver, who uses his aircraft for business trips around Central Europe, let me alert you to who is being subsidised. I pay almost twice as much per litre of fuel as the airlines do, given they are exempt from all fuel taxes on their AOC. I use my aircraft for private transport I pay the lot ! I also use the services of Eurocontrol, and the ATC system while on an IFR plan. With my lovely mode S transponder they are able to, and do, rack up significant service charges on every flight. These are much higher than they used to be, and you can compare with the US where they are free to light GA. Eurocontrol and national air traffic organisations have been under constant pressure from the airlines to bring charges against light aviation, which are way out of proportion to the service used compared to airlines.
Question here is, who is being subsidised 