begin to boil -- especially in the departure terminal.

Passengers and staff at the Airport have been getting hot under the collar because of air conditioning malfunctions.

As a result some parts of the Airport -- including the US departure area -- have been sweltering in temperatures in the high 70s.

But it is hoped spare parts will be flown in today and the problem fully fixed this week.

The Airport has four compressors pumping air into the building, but one has broken down completely and one is only operating at half capacity.

Yesterday one member of Airport staff claimed the US departure area, some staff areas and the baggage area had been affected for about a month.

"It is impossible to work under the conditions,'' said the staff member who asked not to be named.

"It is like a greenhouse. It is not fair to the staff or the passengers and I think the management are simply not caring enough. The passengers are going frantic in the departures area.'' The Airport worker also accused management of taking too long to get spare parts. "I am sure it does not take an entire month to bring in spare parts considering the amount of planes landing at the Airport at the moment,'' he said.

But Airport Operations general manager Jack Gordon said the air conditioning system was old and spare parts were difficult to find.

The parts should be arriving today and the broken down compressor should be fixed within a few hours. The other compressor, which is only half operating, will have to be shut down and fixed when the Airport is not busy.

Mr. Gordon said the problem had only worsened in the last few days, although there had been other problems with the air conditioning over the past few weeks.

He said as well as fixing the faulty compressors, five more were being installed on top of the building to pump in more air.

"It is hot and I apologise,'' he said. "It is not a case of us not putting in manpower and resources into the problem.

"The unit that is down is not a standard one and we have not been able to find parts. However, they should be flown in on Tuesday and it can be fixed within a few hours.'' PHOT0BATTLING THE HEAT -- Superintendent Ivan Swan (left) and technician Derek Bell work on the Airport's malfunctioning air conditioning yesterday.