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Most of these airports had their best years in the loco boom between around 2004 and 2008, when the Blair-Brown debt-fuelled binge was at its height.
I'm no fan of the Labour Party, but let's not perpetuate some Tory myths either. After a short period of budget surplus in Blair's first term (due to spending restraint) in the late 1990s, the UK had a budget deficit of 2-3% of GDP between 2002-2007, BUT by historical standards, this is relatively low. It still met the Maastricht criteria of keeping budget deficits to less than 3% of GDP. Bear in mind that the budget situation was also improved by impressive tax revenues from the housing and financial boom. When the credit crunch hit - and that was a global crisis sparked by US action on toxic loans and Lehmann Brothers - tax revenues rapidly dwindled causing a rapid deterioration in public finances. The Blair-Brown binge crashed in 2008 and Osborne's policies have exacerbated the situation. Never forget to blame the greed of bankers either...
Surely the lo-co surge is simply explained by the product life cycle? Even if the credit crunch hadn't happened, the lo-co growth would have levelled off and started to rationalise......