PIK was similarly profitable on a lower volume of passengers & cargo and not just on "an operating" basis. The first loss made at PIK from the ACAP buy out in 1991/92 was not until after infratil bought the business, carved up the operations, introduced so many managers, outsourced fuel, retail, catering, food and drink outlets etc and fell out with MOL and others. Remember Infratil were charging more for some landing fees than GLA for parts of the year.
The layers of red tape now in dealing with PIK are also adding costs and reducing income. For example - to rent a tour operators desk that has been empty for 8 years you first have to speak to Property Management. They then have to put a proposal to Commercial Management, they then have to send this out to an agency for consultation, who come back with a counter proposal, which goes through the same chain again and so on.You get the idea on the multi layers of managers (who outnumber other positions drastically such as cleaners, general maint...
There is no reason that if the airport was run again on the "low cost hub" basis, with a tight control on costs that it could not return to profit on an operational basis rather quickly.