Early signs of decay in brand new airport

THE EDITOR: I had the pleasure very recently of flying out of what I consider our beautiful new Piarco Airport. Putting aside architectural critiques and billion-dollar shenanigans, you really can’t help admitting our new airport is nice. Not $1.2-billion-nice by any stretch of the mind, but at the very least, a major improvement to its predecessor.

What really frustrates me at this point are the many early signs of decay at Piarco. During my two hours I counted no less than forty chipped or cracked floor tiles. Did the relevant bid (or lack thereof) provide for any extra replacement tiles? Just glance upwards and anyone can see many ceiling areas showing moisture damage and other imperfections. In the main check-in concourse, every one of the air-conditioning vents has been allowed to spread a film of black dust on the surrounding ceiling tiles.

If you look more carefully at the roof there are traces of this stuff starting to accumulate on the visible white steel girders. This is a brand new airport. Have a look around next time you’re at JFK or Heathrow. These terminals are decades old and spotless. That’s just how it should be. This letter won’t accommodate a discussion on preventative maintenance, or for that matter, culture change, so let’s just hope when one of those cool sense-a-pee flushing urinals decides to conk out, someone will get a quick tender to fix it.

LUKE  SHEPPARD
Maraval