That may be part of the reason, but flying was considered expensive in
the late '40's, when I flew with my father, and in the mid '50's, when I
took my first lessons. During that period of time flying was more
popular and romantic, and airplane companies thought they were going to
sell a lot of airplanes. Veterans were getting free flying lessons on
the GI Bill. But it was still expensive to rent and buy and maintain
planes, even then. )-:

Jay Honeck wrote:

Sadly, the reason GA flying is priced so high is because so few people
actually want to do it.