First impressions last — and a shabby airport is one

THE new Cork airport terminal should be state-of-the-art. A huge amount of money went into its construction, yet it has many of the hallmarks of a provincial affair in a less than developed country.

I suppose the new addition is moderately impressive as airports go, but a good airport is surely more than bricks and mortar or steel, glass and, in this case, a lot of wood.

Although spacious, the interior is actually quite dull and boring, badly in need of a coat of paint and an infusion of imaginative symbolism that connects the passenger to the very reason for the building’s existence. If you’ve been to Changi airport in Singapore recently or, dare I say it, Terminal 5 at Heathrow, you’ll get my drift.

The refreshment area, banished to the far end of the terminal, is another disappointment. Frankly, it looks like an afterthought, as if it had been forgotten until the last minute.

And does it get better as you leave the building?

Not at all. The dreariness has embraced the forecourt as well. Not a potted plant, hanging basket or flowerbed in sight.

A smoking enclave has been established just outside the automatic doors and the ground is littered with fag ends and the blackened globs of discarded chewing gum.

A rubbish bin nearby is full to overflowing and the area around it stained and filthy.

Drab and dreary? No, downright shabby.

And isn’t it the same wherever you go? Well, yes it is, especially if you use Dublin airport.

Well, no it certainly isn’t if you have travelled beyond these shores as often and as widely as I (and many other Irish people) do.

A port of entry, wherever it may be, is the first impression visitors get of the country they are about to enter.

Like it or not, it speaks volumes about attitudes, norms and values, about imagination or lack of it.

And finally, what is that thing in the middle of the roundabout on the way in to the city?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it’s a bit of straggly hedge trying vainly to cover a wire frame in the shape of a plane... I think.

I’m sure it was there almost 40 years ago when I used to tear off to Kinsale for a few jars on summer evenings and Cork airport was quiet before Ryanair and Easyjet found out about it.

The ‘thing’ used to look like a plane then and I was quite impressed, as I’m sure many other travellers were. And wasn’t that the point after all? Creating a good impression?

It did then, in 1970. It doesn’t now.

Today, the ‘plane’ looks like a hedge that has just crash-landed.

It’s hard to make sense of all this and to avoid sounding like some cranky old devil who has spent too long overseas.

However, I think the problem has a lot to do with progress that has happened overnight.

Too much money, perhaps, and not enough time spent on the finer details that don’t require huge financial investment. Just insight, imagination, a little commonsense and a lot of concern for passengers who are paying more to use an airport than ever before.

History reveals that the most prosperous people are often the most civilised, raising the bar for the rest of us to achieve the same high standards.

Surely Cork Airport Authority can aspire to greater things by injecting a little imagination and creative flair into a 21st century facility and local institution that everyone can be proud of.

Stewart Carry

Queen’s College

120 Causeway Road

Causeway Bay

Hong Kong