Aviation is a form of public transport that sees no subsidies from the UK taxpayer.
Not entirely true. There are numerous PSO routes in Scotland, not to mention CWL - EGO. Scottish highland routes are also exempt from APD.
BHX has just had £16m handed to it for its pointless runway extension.
Then there is the 'argument' used by the likes of FoE that the aviation industry is actually 'subsidised' to the tune of £10bn per year. Now I don't buy this argument at all, but it goes along the lines of:
No tax on aviation fuel (whereas car fuel is taxed to death) +
No VAT on airline tickets (whereas hotel stays and almost all leisure products are subject to VAT) +
No payment to cover the 'social cost' of flying +
Duty free 'tax avoidance' +
No VAT on new aircraft.
Now the last one is particularly daft - any accountant will tell you that airlines would just claim the VAT back, and even if the government could levy a fee on new aircraft (import duty on Boeing?) - that would be totally self-defeating on environmental grounds.