Monday, November 23, 2009

Airport (in)efficiency

I am in Luanda at the moment for what would hopefully be my last business trip for 2009. As I went through the airport I was thinking again about the poor service your receive from the moment you land until you leave this country again. I have written so many stories particularly about this airport but doubt whether I will ever post it. I am scared I might get a knock on my door one evening. Voted as one of the most inefficient airports in Africa by an African traveller magazine, you can imagine for yourself what it must be like. If I tell you that I managed to get through Immigration, Customs and baggage collection in one hour today, then you might not think it is bad. What if I tell you the average time to do that is around 2 hours and that my record so far has been 4 hours? That is getting of the plane, getting a stamp at Immigration and picking up your luggage. BTW, a colleague of mine found the locks on his bags broken open today....


But I didn't want to go on about the inefficiency at Luanda Airport. I believe that if you've travelled through an airport a couple of times you learn the ropes and eventually you don't see the problems anymore. I think the best way to get an impression of an airport's efficiency is when you do it for the first time. Today I travelled through Cape Town's new terminals for the first time since it has been opened a few weeks ago. All I can say is "what a pleasure". Not only is everything clearly marked, but everywhere you find people dressed in bright neon green shirts assisting passengers wherever they can. You cannot beat a friendly smile when you are looking for directions. I think Cape Town International Airport is ready for the thousands of tourist coming to see the Soccer World Cup in 2010. Keep it up!

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