Birdscarer
Think back 18 months or so when Exeter Airport was in process of being sold.At that time the cafe/restaurant was landside & adjacent to the channel leading to the search facility.Again,if you recall, once at the search facility passengers entered a wider area ,bordered by a rest room facility to the left for staff.Once through the search ,it was a left turn to the departure lounge.
I would submit that if it was not for the catering franchise & any return on overall turnover it contributed to EDAL then it would have been both practical & cheap to double the width of the entrance cone to the search facility & by repositioning the rest room within the search area , to also double the search facility.That would have taken a slice from the space for cafe/restaurant use but would seem otherwise to require little in the way of other than minor building works.
What happened of course was that the cafe went airside & nothing else changed, (Except the ownership of the Airport).
My last trip through Exeter was in March when I was required to return my Avis Car to the airport on a Saturday afternoon.
Avis were shut at 4-45pm as was every check in desk & the info desk.I could see no security staff & eventually found the key drop for Avis.Most of the main lighting was off.The departure terminal appeared deserted.I was later told that FlyBe cut backs in winter flights had led to reciprocity on the part of EDAL. Of course, that type of situation (if true) will always mean that the "summer season" will lead to inexperienced seasonal staff dealing with passengers landside as all the experienced staff, who have airside passes, are "down at the gate" boarding flights.Thus the security line will become congested in summer at peak periods , as EDAL accept any flights with no scheduling constraints in peak periods, & passengers such as "civil aviation" will get no help because he probably has more experience of Exeter than many of the seasonal staff.
Self perpetuating??? But in the meantime EDAL are ruining the greatest attraction that a regional airport with limited flights has, i.e.rapid transit through the airport.