Well, if it is smaller & tidier terminals with airbridges that you want to relate to you dont have to go much further than the new terminal at Aeropuerto de Menorca in Mahon. She Who Must Be Obeyed & I were there last week. The terminal is a real case of Keep It Simple, Stupid! A big rectangular box which is a little longer than at Cork with five airbridges attached. The difference to Cork, is I think, that most of the stands at Menorca can probably take widebody aeroplanes. There are then a good few remote stands one which seems to host almost permanently a Swiftair ATR. Most of the airbridges were in use by Thomas Cook, Air Europa, Iberia. Our First Choice/TOM A320 parked remotely on our arrival and on our departure we were up to a terminal stand minus the use of the airbridge but we were put on Cobuses for the extemely short journey from the terminal to aeroplane which made nearly every adult pax roar with laughter. Interestingly, there are two smoking areas airside which seems hardly unreasonable for nervous pax going on lengthy, cramped flights. Menorca handles about 4 million pax a year so up to last year at least may be compared with Cork. Such a simple, well done design. Okay, I know the original new roof at Menorca caved in and that must have created quite a storm at the time but still the case holds for the simle, straightforwardly designed Menorcan terminal. Runway there not much bigger than Cork either, about 7800 feet or thereabouts.
It would have been so easy to get it right at Cork and if for no other reason than the aesthetic at least two more airbridges should be put up at Cork and just make the likes of Ryanair use them like at Palma and Madrid and if they dont, well, let them go to snn! There has been no hesitation in putting so many new airbridges in the new Dublin terminal so why not complete the unfinished job at Cork.
And by the way, Cork badly needs to be taken out of the DAA empire, it is really stangling the place so let us get the airbridges in fast. Winter will be with us in weeks!