The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Prime Minister Mark Carney's announcement on Sept. 15 that Ottawa would "seek private investment through long-term concessions to operate Canada's four largest airports" is a policy whose arrival is a long overdue reform. A Globe editorial says that the idea of selling operating concessions for Toronto-Pearson, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary to pension funds and other investors is a much needed break from a status quo that has inflated costs for travellers. But it doesn't go far enough. The concession model Mr. Carney is proposing risks doing little more than raising tens of billions of dollars for the Liberal government. What Mr. Carney should have announced is that Ottawa will sell its major airports outright: land, assets and everything else. He should also have announced that Ottawa will allow foreign ownership and control of Canadian airlines and that foreign carriers can operate flights between Canadian destinations, known as cabotage. This would have paved the way for more choice, lower travel costs and better airport experiences. Ottawa has effectively been milking airports for cash for more than 30 years without putting any money back into them.