Airport’s uplifting progress

TOWNSVILLE’S airport operators are to be commended for trying to respond to an obvious problem at the facility.

That is the management of traffic and the problem of congestion during flight arrival times.

The airport has created a free-parking space in an effort to prevent drop-off zone congestion and the practice of motorists engaging in unwanted laps of the airport’s ring road when waiting for passengers.

The new parking zone is 900m from the terminal on Mustang Court and offers drivers 30 minutes of free parking with access to wi-fi.

The idea is to help ease the stress of picking up and dropping off passengers.

Problems occur when hundreds of people arrive on flights at the same time and friends and relatives who have arranged to drop them off or pick them up arrive at the same time, jamming a pickup and drop-off zone catering for perhaps a dozen cars at one time.

For this reason airport authorities have limited cars standing in the pick-up and drop-off zone to one minute.

This latest move seems to be part of a series of initiatives the airport is putting in place to improve customer experiences.

While the redevelopment of the facility stalled last year due to the long-running stoush with the national carrier Qantas, public sympathy waned for the airport. Since then the airport has installed new toilets, charging stations and new seats.

Over the Christmas break, the airport pulled out all the stops to improve the mood of the place, including carol singers, Christmas competitions and even handing out candy canes.

Management deserves praise for trying to put the customer first.

Ultimately. though, users just want to see the upgrade go ahead and the facility improved.

If, despite Qantas’ belligerence, the airport manages to push ahead with that project, the public sentiment towards the airport would be improved beyond measure.