Dear Editor,

Your May 23 article about airports having to reduce costs to better support the airlines deserves a comment.

Having worked on both sides of the counter, I know how airlines and airports often view one another. Negative perspectives, however, won't produce progress. When airlines talk about "educating" airports about how to run their finances, airports might ask where that newly found expertise was recently acquired. Plenty of valid finger-pointing can be directed either way. Partnerships are created over time and the education process will always flow both ways.

While local airport officials can be remarkably ignorant of airline economics, airlines often don't take the time to understand individual markets. Frequently, operating schedules are driven by internal airline considerations, without local market input. It is a mistake to assume that most airport officials are immune to economic realities. Like their airline counterparts, many must work with severe budgetary restrictions and unrealistic expectations of the public. Cooperation between airlines themselves can produce cost reductions as well. Outside the United States, check-in facilities and gates are routinely shared. How much "branding" is really necessary?

It may be a given that airlines and airports should cooperate more, but it will take a bit of humility on both sides for it to work.

-- Bob Ziegelaar, Bangor, Maine