But is that not totally anti competitive then if you do that. You are basically protecting one business against the other. If there is to be true competition at any airport anywhere , you can't really do that..can you? There is market dominance in every industry, and the dominant player will always have a strong hand to play, but other businesses still compete. Maybe not on price but on other strengths they may or may not have.
You'd also have the possibility that the airline /route that is protected can basically charge what they like as there is no competition for those 3 years or whatever.
If competition is to provide consumers with more choice and better value, then surely what you are saying totally goes against this or am I missing something?