Aberdeen Airport

As a very regular passenger through Aberdeen Airport I can see that BAA have put in a lot of time and money expanding and re-shaping their departures area which has resulted in a nicer experience for passengers departing ABZ. The staff are efficient and friendly if sometimes a bit harassed but they cope admirably. Unfortunately the same is not experienced by international passengers arriving in the airport. The staff are good but in this day and age with ABZ trying to attract more international flights one tiny international arrivals area is not really sufficient. ABZ has international flights departing almost on top of one another at various times during the day and for each departure - you guessed it there's an arrival. I have experienced on many occasions being forced to wait outside the arrivals area in nothing more than a covered walkway while the previous plane load of passengers clear the immigration area and pass into baggage reclaim (the same room). Once in all international flights have one carousel for baggage which can sometimes have 2 or 3 planeloads (anything from EMB145s to B737s) of passengers round it. All in all not a great effort from Aberdeen Airport however it has served the North-East of Scotland and the North Sea oil industry very well over the years. I hope they go on doing so in the future but the management there really need to look at what they are going to do with extra passengers as their numbers will inevitably increase.

A bit chaotic due to extension work but very efficient going through security. Food ok and not too bad pricewise. Smoking is outside at either end of the terminal (bus shelters placed for bad weather) but most people just stood outside front door and it looked very messy - BAA staff doing nothing about it. Quick for getting bags through from the aircraft which is useful. Also at rush hour might be a good idea to pre- book a cab - they were overwhelmed!

Used Aberdeen airport to fly to and back from to Amsterdam. The customer service at the airport was of a high standard and public transport to the city centre is reliable. Would gladly use Aberdeen again to travel domestically or to continental Europe. The recent news that weekly flights to popular destinations in Portugal and Spain will be available soon will also add to the appeal of this airport for travellers from Northern Scotland.

The only real choice if flying to Aberdeen! Overall OK but very limited choice of food and shopping. Staff are friendly and queues generally short.

Aberdeen Airport is fairly good and efficient but with some room for improvement. I recently flew to the Faroe Islands on Atlantic Airways. On the return the luggage took a very long time to arrive; also there was confusion at the passport control over the status of green Faroese passports with many passengers standing in the wrong queue. This created a negative first impression for visitors; attention to detail and clearer signage is necessary. A more important concern is the inadequate bus service (route 27) between the airport and the city centre. It is very poorly marketed infrequent and does not run at all at weekends - leading to a massive queue for taxis. A regular shuttle bus between the airport university (Old Aberdeen) city centre and the railway station is needed.

Overall nice small airport with good connections to major hubs in Europe such as London (Heathrow/Gatwick/Luton) Amsterdam and Paris CDG. Also has flights to most major UK destinations. I found that travelling through the airport was relatively quick and hassle-free. Good bus service to the city centre which is about 10 km from the aiport and reasonably priced. Would recommend this airport to anyone living in the North of Scotland as an alternative to GLA/EDI. Further considerations for this small but expanding aiprt would be to add services to Spain and Italy as well as to some Central European cities such as Berlin/Prague/Warsaw.

ABZ is a convenient airport with ever-improving routes to and fro. Work has begun on modernising the airport and there are more plans in the pipeline. ABZ is convenient and reliable. The only thing you can't rely on is the weather there. That is the biggest problem with ABZ and there isn't much that can be done about it.

Hopefully the new airport manager will manage to drag the airport in the 21st century. The new Servisair lounge for KLM/AF etc is a great leap forward although the suede chairs I feel may suffer from high mileage usage through a relatively short time frame. AF need to have a larger presence at check-in and these Servis air check-in crew need to be trained on how to put mileage onto a frequent flyer card even when I say "have you done it" they say "yes". I log in (around a month later) to find that my mileage has not been credited. As a local I shouldn't really gripe but on the whole both air side and land side it could be a lot better. Maybe a trip to some of the Scandinavian airports would get their creative side into drive.

I have used Aberdeen International Airport extensively through the years and found it to be out of date and touch with modern international and domestic commuter travel the quality of the departure lounges are very poor and the delays when returning from international flights is disgraceful the baggage collection system whether domestic or international is pathetic.

I have used Aberdeen Airport several times in the last couple of years and have not had any problems. Everything works properly and the staff are very friendly. The security checks at the departure lounge are most thorough.