Heard from a duty manager at LBA that the airside boarding area is not in the plans for development this winter. Surely this must be a priority! Its absolute carnage boarding at LBA, 4 gates for stands 9-25?!?! - and any flights on stand 12 onwards must be bussed inbound and outbound. Its madness. Why oh why can't they build an extension beyond the cafe to both increase seating capacity, provide some all important retail space and create gates for each stand. Say down to stand 15, then stands 16 -18 can be walked to and the new stands used via bus.
The current set up is causing delays and I'm sure is a safety and security risk. Anyone who knows the walkway set up for stands 9-11 will know how ridiculous it is and there are simply not enough gates and busses to deal with the other stands. I've heard quite a few PAX complaining about the overcrowding in departures, particularly when, for example a 757 goes tech and there's a PAX backlog - many of which have said they will use MAN next time! If Bridgepoint want an airport which "staff and PAX can be proud of" they better change their plans!
Has anyone seen the plans who can shed some more light here?