Couldn't agree more.
Flew into YSBK last weekend, and noted just how run down it is. It is surely too busy to sell it off, but perhaps there is a major redevelopment on the cards (think public
rivate partnership with a reduction in footprint in return for improvement in facilities?)
I must say many Australian airports seem a bit run down in my recent experience - closed restaurants, shops, flying schools and terminals, and a feeling that things were busier in the past. I guess it's expected that the industry will remodel as interests and demographics change, but as a young person who has only recently learned to fly - I can't help but wonder what exactly the future will hold.
Looking around my local flying club, I'm 25, and I think the next oldest 'serious' private pilot would be late 40s. Lots of teenagers seem to come in for trial flights though. Most active club members seem to be in their late 60s/70s. Going through my training, it wasn't all very fun - but the reasons for this were never about cost. The instructors seemed burned out, and very pessimistic about the world / especially GA. I've noted this seems to be the case, especially on this site. Every question is answered in part by a stab at CASA, at prices, at regulations, at people who had 'wronged' the club. GA seems a negative place, in my short time in it! And it's actually a turn off, because I fly for fun, and don't like to spend my weekend being negative about stuff.
I enjoy going for a fly, and seeing new places, and persisted long enough to qualify for my PPL, but the excitement, the allure, the adventure, was not sold through the training. And I don't think that the glory days of GA are behind us
So perhaps my experience is in part representative of others, and might help explain why YSBK's paint is peeling.