Jay,

The situation you describe (as well as Jim) is apparently VERY common.
In fact, it would seem that mid-size municipally owned airports almost
never operate without subsidies and grants. I've been researching the
same issues, recently, as it applies to my own airport in Ocean City. Most
would never be able to do large scale improvements like runway re-paving,
etc. without being involved in the FAA's Airport Improvement Program
(AIP). I even went to a one-day conference of Maryland airport managers,
so that I could listen to the topics involved. From my research, it would
seem that most of the opinions on this newsgroup are fairly one-sided
relative to all the issues involved. You might want to do some Googling
on the following topics:

Airport Management
Airport Improvement Program
Through the Fence Operations

It would appear that it's a farely rare situation that a mid-size
municipal airport can bring in enough business to operate in the black.
Forward thinking municipalities probably consider the loss incurred
supporting the airport as an investment in the greater good of the city,
but I suspect that it's very difficult to convince a city council, or city
manager, of this.

-- Jay

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