Angouleme airport in south-west France, like many small provincial airports across Europe, more closely resembles a motorway café or a visitors' centre at a minor battlefield than an economic hub. And since scheduled flights ceased in 2010 it cannot even count on the trickle of visitors a second-tier historical site might expect. Yet Angouleme is a battleground in a conflict that pits European regional development against fair competition, and low-cost carriers against full-service airlines. Europe is peppered with over 450 airports, mostly small and loss-making. About 85% are publicly owned-this week the Scottish government said it would buy Prestwick airport near Glasgow, following the Welsh government's nationalisation of Cardiff airport in March. Local politicians' enthusiastic sponsorship of airports, as a means to boost their regional economies, has in turn contributed to the rapid growth of low-cost airlines, since the airports have used their subsidies to offer cheap landing fees and other sweeteners to persuade the cheap carriers to fly there.
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