As I have said above the money from landing fees will only underwrite the cost of the airport but it is the cost to the local economy were the loss is really felt, taxi drivers, hotels bars and restaurants are the big losers when GA is kept out and tax incomes fall.
An airport is vital for the economy of any island but it will never directly make a profit and this is a very hard thing to beat into the brains of those in govenment ( be they political or civil servants ).
The classic example of this is on the Isle of Man, the big airport at Ronaldsway has driven away the microlight and LAA types from the island and at the same time the obvious alternatives Jurby and Andreas are failing one because a prison has been built on it and the other because the revinue is not enough for the owner to be able to re-invest. A quick talk to the local Taxi drivers will reveal the drop in income to the businesses on the north of the island due to the lack of visiting aircraft. You would think that the IoM Govenment would act to help the owners of the airfield by providing 700 m of Tarmac on a very long lease. But No ! It is likely that rather than guaranteeing a slow but steady income for the north of the island for the next 25 years they are blind to the opertunity.
I suppose the usual reasons (IOM). No lobby strong enough to keep the government officials regularly and obnoxiously off their morning coffee so they won’t do anything. Plus some folks who are notoriously anti GA. The mix is the same all over Europe.
It’s still not clear to me why they do that …
Simple, really: more airplanes = more work. The latter being a rather alien concept in most places around the Med.
I own a business in a country much more south so might have a different perspective but to me Greece is one of the better places for GA. Reasonable prices (besides fuel but quantity and dispersed geography together with high taxes can’t result in cheap fuel), good infrastructure and generally not a lot of problems. I fly to Greece without calling / faxing / reserving because I know I can trust the NOTAMs etc. and I will find a hotel on the spot and a taxi to get there. The “make Greece the Florida of European GA” is nonsense in my eyes simply because Greece is too far away from where the majority of GA pilots live.
One tip: never ask for a receipt, I was very close to getting beaten up by a taxi driver last year, only the fact that there were two of us kept him from doing that 
I fly to Greece without calling / faxing / reserving because I know I can trust the NOTAMs etc.
I would not do that. 9 out of 10 airports in Greece have some PPR requirement. While a few of them might really not take it that serious (as long as you land within the official opening time) the majority definitely does. Getting sent away after flying 1000 miles from home is certainly not what I’d want. Sure, if you don’t have a hotel reservation and a rental car reservation, having to leave and go somwehere else not the end of the world, but after all, one does make certain “plans” for one’s holiday and doesn’t want to have it all go down the drain just due one omitted email or fax.
I always ask for a receipt on Crete, and although they sometimes don’t like it, i always get one :-)
I fly to Greece without calling / faxing / reserving because I know I can trust the NOTAMs etc
That is definitely not 100% reliable – see the report here for one example of where the notamed opening times were incorrect.
I would think they are highly likely to be correct for major holiday destination airports such as Corfu, Iraklion, Samos, Lesbos, etc. But not for islands where the only flight is the once or twice daily one from Athens.
I have found that the airports – even the smallest ones – are extremely keen to write out a receipt for absolutely everything. I guess it keeps them busy, but it serves another vital purpose: they cannot later say you didn’t pay the fee. I have been screwed over by several airports in “northern” Europe where allegedly I didn’t pay the landing fee. The last one was La Rochelle where I accordingly had to pay it twice. Dinard sent me their bill after 12 months! So I keep all airport receipts for at least a year. Also, in Greece, most of the airport CAA offices very carefully checked my receipts from the airports previously visited on the trip, apparently to make sure I paid all the fees, but in one case (the second stop in Samos) they used that to waive a part of the charge because we never left airside (which was nice).
Greece works pretty well but you need to allow a clear 1 hour between arriving at the airport, and walking out to the aircraft.
I have been screwed over by several airports in “northern” Europe
It sometimes happens in france that you get another invoice. I don’t think it’s because they want to screw you, I think it’s more because they’re somewhat disorganised. Because if you call them and ask what the invoice was for, they usually quite quickly retract…
I don’t think it’s because they want to screw you, I think it’s more because they’re somewhat disorganised.
I agree.
Because if you call them and ask what the invoice was for, they usually quite quickly retract…
Not my experience 
Generally they will pursue the bill for ages. Pontoise chased me for many months, from different departments.
The simple thing is to keep receipts.
