An airport located at the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island has found itself smack dab at the center of a polarizing debate after setting a time limit on hugs in its drop-off zone.
The debate topic: “Just how long is too long to hug?”
Well, according to the new Dunedin Airport, three minutes is enough time to activate the happy hormones generated by a good hug — at least according to the airport’s chief executive, Dan De Bono, who made this remark in a phone interview on Tuesday.
To further drive home his point, the 40-year-old Dunedin native said he had timed himself earlier that day, going the full quota in front of an audience of airport staff.
During his experiment, he said the hug became a little awkward after 20 seconds and he had to fight the urge to pull away:
“I’m not a big hugger. Twenty seconds tops for me.” De Bono claimed.
The airport offers services to a university town of about 135,000 people and while it is (obviously) no match for the Los Angeles International or John F. Kennedy International airports – both of which attracts tens of millions of passengers – traffic can still pile up at peak times from its ~ 1 million yearly estimated passengers.
Owing to this, airport staff came up the hug-limit plan as a “fun” way to enhance safety in the drop-off zone by avoiding dangerous maneuvers as people grew exasperated with traffic pileups.
The early reactions from this announcement were primarily negative — with several people describing the decision as inhumane.
But De Bono is not moved as he said the pushback has eased with the news going viral in world media.
According to De Bono, the three minutes is pretty generous by global standards.
At press tine, De Bono said Dunedin Airport has no plans in plaxe to strictly enforce the time limit — although he made jokes about employing a “hug police” with minute-timers out to “hold people to account.”
“For those needing longer embraces, there is always the car park,” De Bono said and a sign in the drop zone has informed visitors to use this for “fonder farewells.”
During off-peak times, the airport has said it would turn a blind eye to overstayers in the drop-off area.
“Between flights, you could have a 20-minute hug, and no one is going to notice,” De Bono assured.
