jabird
I was saying that the airport should be able to make more money, whether or not the airline does is their business.
Of course, I am assuming that the airport would charge a handling fee which was sufficient enough to give them a margin. Now we know that not all airports do that, and we also know that the previous Coughco guys halved the fees in a desperate bid to attract custom.
I am giving Sir Peter enough credit to assume that he wouldn't repeat either of those mistakes.
I agree he wouldn't repeat the mistake. Unfortunately that means little or no passenger services. LoCo's are given silly prices for the first year at BHX, with access to all the facilities. BHX make the money from the passengers using the shops, bars and car parks. CVT has nothing to make money from other than aviation charges. As that would probably not be enough to cover costs it's not worth their while chasing anything.
Like you I would like to see it succeed. However, I believe it will slowly be squeezed by the Rigby developments. Keeping it as a small private aircraft field and maybe some small freight operations to feed a few business' in the new development.
The Council have no real ambition for it, as they are major shareholders in BHX. They do, however, like the business park idea....