Drab Cork Airport needs better shops and cafes

Your article on the problems of Cork Airport (Irish Examiner, October 31) cuts little sympathy with my UK-based daughter. 

She claims that of all the city airports she has used, in India, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, Cork is the most dismal and depressing. She particularly criticises the cafes and the bars in the public and passenger areas and the inadequacy of upmarket retail or food outlets.

People spend more money in airports, perhaps because they need cheering up before their flight.

Why, she asks, can’t the chamber of commerce, instead of bemoaning the plight of the airport, entice food franchises, like McDonald’s, or retailers, like Next or M&S, into the airport?

This could boost passenger numbers, restore lost retail slots and give Cork an airport of which it can be truly proud.

Nick Nolan

Ballinalacken

Ballylanders

Co Limerick