Emotional farewells are a common sight at airports, but travellers leaving the New Zealand city of Dunedin will have to be quick. A new three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs in the airport’s drop-off area is intended to prevent lingering cuddles from causing traffic jams.

“Max hug time three minutes,” warn signs outside the terminal, adding that those seeking “fonder farewells” should head to the airport’s parking lot instead.

The cuddle cap was imposed in September to “keep things moving smoothly” in the redesigned passenger drop-off area outside the airport, stated CEO Daniel De Bono. It was the airport’s way of reminding people that the zone was for “quick farewells” only, he said.

“It’s caused quite a stir,” De Bono told Radio New Zealand Monday. “People are going ‘you can’t tell us how long we can have a hug for.’”

The signs were meant as an alternative to those at other airports warning of wheel clamping or fines for drivers parked in drop-off areas. Some in Britain have imposed fees for all drop-offs – however brief.

Dunedin’s airport – a modest terminal serving a city of 135,000 people on New Zealand’s South Island – preferred a “quirky” approach, De Bono said.

“It’s really about enabling the space for others to also have hugs,” he told RNZ. “Too many people are spending too much time with their fonder farewells in the drop-off zone.”

A 20-second hug is long enough to release the wellbeing-boosting hormones oxytocin and serotonin, De Bono said. Anything longer was “a bit awkward.”

But passengers need not worry unduly about enforcement. “We’re not going to call the hug police,” he told RNZ.

Visitors might, however, be asked to move their lingering embraces to the parking lot, where they can cuddle free of charge for up to 15 minutes.

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