Phileas Fogg, it depends what type of employed Non Emmett heard about. Does the 164 include the gentleman trying to sell Cornish wine in the departure hall, the lady working for Cornish Tourist Board polling departing passengers and the ground handlers? If that's true, then there are a number of other airports in the UK that is also overstaffed, like MAN that has 19,000 employed at the airport with 18.6 million yearly passengers right now. This gives 2.69 daily pax per employed at the airport. An other example is my local airport (not on the British Isles though). At this airport there is 13,000 employed and they now manage to press through 20.5 million yearly passengers. This gives 4.32 daily pax per employed at the airport. In other words, if the answer to my question is yes, then Newquay is better than the relatively successful MAN.