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[quote user="blue streak 1"] [quote user="Sam1"] The airlines pay a variety of fees for the airport facilities that they use. They pay landing fees, gate fees, fuel taxes, excise taxes, inventory taxes and property taxes. If they have maintenance facilities on the field, they usually lease them, which means that they pay rents for them. These are variable costs, for the most part, that are charged to current period operating expenses.   [/quote] That may be the major airports but many medium and small size airports have been hosed.  Airline bankruptcies have left federal, state,  and local governments building a facility that makes no money. Prime examples are Raleigh Durham. Nashville, St. Petersburg, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Columbus Ga, and others.  Federal money for new runways, extensions, navigation aids. State and local money for runways , taxiways, terminal buildings, roadways, etc. Several airports mentioned have an extra runway not needed.  ( nice but not needed 0 [/quote] I have neither the time or inclination to look at all the airports mentioned, but I did take a look at the financials for Nashville International. Nashvile enplanements rose 3.2%, 3.4%, and 5.3% respectively in fiscal years 2013, 2012 and 2011. Airport operating revenues increased from approximately $84,000,000 in FY 12 to slightly more than $100,000,000 in FY 13 or an increase of 19.05 per cent. Instead of scaling back operations, the airport has seen an increase in emplanements and operations since the end of the recession.  In FY13 the airport had net income before capital contributions of $8,366,175. It had an operating loss of $4,605,153 in FY12 and an operating profit of $11,343,454 in FY11. The airport has an intensive capital  investment program. One of the objectives is to take advantage of the current low interest rates to build for the future. It has invested $407 million in a variety of improvement projects since 2007. Of this amount approximately $315 million has been funded by long term revenue bonds issued by the airport authority. The capital improvements have been focused on terminal improvements, baggage system enhancements, etc.   During FY13 the airport received slightly more than $6 million in capital improvement funds from local, state, and federal government agencies.  The capital funds received in FY13 were 4.7 per cent of the cash flows generated by airport operations.  The amount of capital funds received from other government agencies, as a percentage of cash flows, was some what greater for the Nashville International Airport than for DFW during FY12. Nevertheless, the notion that the airports are being propped up by the federal government is not supported by the numbers contained in the audited financial statements. The nation's commercial airports are largely self supporting, although there are some exceptions.   Moreover, as noted, the commercial airlines are not the sole beneficiaries of airport improvements. Clearly, they are most likely to benefit from terminal improvements and baggage system enhancements, which in the case of Nashville are being funded by airport revenue bonds as opposed to federal and/or state funds, but the improvements in runways, navigation aids, and air traffic control operations, which get some agency monies, benefit all the users.
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