Grounded

Paul JA Robertson writes on the demise of Edinburgh Airport (Letters, 15 June). As a very regular customer of Edinburgh Airport to the tune of 3-4 times per week on business travel, it comes as no surprise to me that Edinburgh Airport has been voted amongst the worst three airports in the UK. This has been a worsening problem for a while now and despite posts on Facebook, Linkedin and letters sent directly to chiefexecutivegordondewar, there seems to be no response to customers, who are probably regarded as an inconvenience.

I am not alone with this point of view and the problem seems to lie in a few areas, which would suggest this is a general management and leadership issue rather than that of a specific department.

As a non-smoker, I object to being forced to walk through a wall of smokers puffing away in complete ignorance of the “strictly no smoking” signs directly beside them. Once you get past the ordeal of over zealous security staff, you are then forced to walk all the way through Duty Free to get to the departure areas. Surely for business travellers wishing not to shop, a passage could be available to bypass the Duty Free area? Does this emphasise the focus on profits rather than customer service?

Turning to the ground handling, on frequent occasions there are non-functioning airbridges, passengers made to wait in the stairwell for a significant period prior to boarding and a seemingly illogical desire for the airport to load everyone on buses despite ramps being available for domestic arriving aircraft.

Last but not least, the car parking ticketing and payment system is highly unreliable, and despite many times having pre-paid for my parking the entry barrier still requests payment from me. It’s a real pity because Edinburgh is one of the best cities in the world – surely we deserve an airport and associated infrastructure to match?

NEILL COOPER Bavelaw Road, Edinburgh