Anthropologist to study Manchester Airport for a year

26/01/2010

By Mike Booth.

An anthropologist will study Manchester Airport over the next year to determine how the airport experience can be improved for travellers and workers alike.

Dr Damian O'Doherty plans to spend 18 hours per day in the airport's lounge in a bid to examine the behaviour of and relationships between the individuals that use it.

His research will be funded by the government and will consider airports as a new type of urban environment.

"Some people live in airports and 30,000 feet in the air. They commute from place to place, have business meetings in an airport hotel and then fly off somewhere else," Dr O'Doherty said.

He added that he wants to assess the travel hub from every angle by integrating himself into its everyday operation and that he does not know what to expect from the project.

Manchester Airport serves some 28 million passengers each year and employs around 20,000 workers.