Don't let BFS fool you, they make a lot of money, even the years after the downturn. I think the portion of the revenue that they put into reinvestment in the building is ever-dwindling so that the group revenues are not hurt by Cardiff and Luton's struggles.
Second Dog, point noted however, irrespective of how profitable you may think BFS is, numbers have largely been in decline in last few years, investment has taken place, airline bargaining power has increased and the airport in the main has held on to its business, ok bmi baby gone. So my arguement would be that the cost of keeping hold of its business is not cheap. Take the speculation re EI and the whole EZY move of LTN route, yes it was dressed up as not a tangible benefit, but my money would be with the idea that BFS had to sweeten the deal for EZY.
Also what do you call a lot of money? As considering the cost of airport infrastructure plus the cost to main the place, it would need to be significant.