They were driving the airport into the ground because they even now admit it themselves. I wish you could do a poll on these threads, I'd like to know just how many people would vote for 'they were driving it into the ground' over 'they weren't' - a vast majority I'd bet.
I can assure you I'm not looking for a conspiracy theory as I hate them.
The points you raise make it very very difficult yes, but I don't believe for one second they mean the airport doesn't have a viable future.