Yeah, but from A to B the plane does not use man made infrastructure and planes are for longer journeys than typical trains. Two airports cost a lot less than the constant maintenance of hundreds of miles of tracks, signaling, crossings, bridges and tunnels, forest overgrowth etc. plus the road infrastructure needed to maintain all parts of the train track corridor, even if it’s a dirt road, it needs minimum maintenance.
Planes don’t have to maintain the sky, but trains need to maintain the rails.
Essentially any costs that can be externalized & paid by the public with air travel have been, like maintaining airports, etc.
Airlines pay landing fees though, they definitely aren’t using the airport for free.
Yeah, but from A to B the plane does not use man made infrastructure and planes are for longer journeys than typical trains. Two airports cost a lot less than the constant maintenance of hundreds of miles of tracks, signaling, crossings, bridges and tunnels, forest overgrowth etc. plus the road infrastructure needed to maintain all parts of the train track corridor, even if it’s a dirt road, it needs minimum maintenance.
You are correct, but I think the airports are privately owned though, it’s just they need a lot less to maintain them in relative terms.