Yes...but the point i am making is this: when you go shopping at Tesco and there is a notice up saying that Tesco is going to invest millions of pounds into the stores infrastructure, They dont charge the customer for dropping or picking people up!!!
The mistake you are making is in trying to compare two different types of business that both operate car parks
Tesco don't charge to use their car parks because they are charging people via the products that they sell in the stores. If you spend £100 shopping in Tesco, then even after they have paid the suppliers, the staff and the bills to keep the shops open and running, they still have about £10 of your £100 left in their pockets to pay dividends to their shareholders, fund investment in new stores and so on. So of course Tesco are charging customers. Just because it is all hidden and wrapped up in your weekly food bill, doesn't mean you aren't being charged.
Airports don't buy and sell physical products, so they have to charge their customers in a different way. They charge airlines a handling fee for using the airport, they charge catering and retail outlets a rental fee if they want to be in the airport to sell stuff and they charge you the passenger for using their car parkis, fast track security and premier lounges etc. In total, all of these fees have to add up to more than it costs to keep the airport running otherwise there is no chance of anyone providing money to invest and there probably won't be a viable business in the long run.
At the end of the day airport prices and holidays have gone up, with the added inflated priced all LBA all they are doing is pushing some customers away, they are doing the opposite of what they wanted....,
Yes, holiday prices have gone up because the cost of fuel has gone up so guess what, that cost is being passed onto you the customer. Again, you the customer are being charged by airlines and tour operators who need to to cover their costs.
surely the best way to encourage investment is to keep the customer happy and not hit them with more charges
You do not encourage investment from customers. You make a solid business case to the people providing the finance to you that you will give them their money back with interest ! They will not give a monkey's about happy customers unless you can prove that happy customers = customers spending more. If however, your approach to making customers happy is by giving them things for free or below cost price, you do not have a sustainable business. We could all sell £10 notes for £5 and have, for a while at least, probably the most satisfied customers of any business anywhere. It would not last long.