Airport’s welcome won’t land any prizes
AS a Mancunian fortunate enough to travel extensively, my heart always sinks a little every time I disembark at Manchester Airport.
The arrivals area of many international airports are often inspiring places filled with artefacts of cultural pride designed to welcome visitors from around the world.
Sadly, not so in Manchester. Shabby, poorly designed, inadequately staffed: I’m embarrassed and ashamed of the first impression it must give to new visitors to the city.
Recently, after a 15 hour flight, my wife was made to queue for an hour and 10 minutes at passport control because there was just one member of staff checking non-EU passports.
The baggage collection area is utterly depressing. Inadequate seating means exhausted travellers and young children are forced to sit on the floor.
The provision of toilets is totally inadequate to cater for several hundred people arriving at the same time, which means the single toilet area is very often in a poor state of cleanliness.
In theory, you can summon a shuttle bus to take you to the airport’s car hire centre but the reality is a dirty, vandalised shelter exposed to the elements where you can be stood waiting for 15 to 20 minutes waiting for the shuttle to arrive.
Importantly, there’s virtually no provision made for people arriving for whom English is not their first language and staffing levels are so low that there is absolutely no customer service, support or any sense of being welcomed to the city.
Sir Adrian Montague CBE, Chairman of the very profitable Manchester Airport Group, said in his most recent corporate statement that the company’s airports should be ‘outstanding places’ that ‘understand the needs of passengers.’
In this respect, Manchester, the company’s flagship airport, is an utter failure: lacking any sense of the city’s cultural heritage or offering even basic civility as hosts welcoming new international visitors for the first time.
I am convinced that Manchester could and should do so much better. Paul Wilkinson, Timperley