Barneythedog .... the "other issues" as you call them are the ones that face the end user i.e. the fare paying customer day in day out. Speaking as a frequent traveller rather than airline staff or crew Aberdeen is not an enjoyable experience made even worse when you experience the vastly superior service and infrastructure at nearly every other airport I have travelled through.
It gets tiresome reading every other week in the Evening Depress how passenger figures are up, new lounges are open (who the hell designed those), new flights, Houston here we come blah blah blah when the reality is it is a miserable place to travel through. The positive spin really is a smokescreen on the reality.