Answer Man: Asheville Regional Airport is dirty? Can it keep up with passenger increase?
Today's burning questions are about upkeep at the Asheville Regional Airport. Got a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Interim Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.
Question: I recently flew out of Asheville Airport on a weekday afternoon. I have never seen the airport so filthy. The bathrooms had overflowing toilets and garbage cans and clearly had not been cleaned in some time. The waiting area at the gates was also dirty and the carpet looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in weeks. There was a flashing sign in the waiting area that said please be patient with their cleanliness (or something like this) since they were short-staffed. Is the airport getting up to staff soon, especially in time for high tourist season? How many cleaners do they need to have? How much do they pay for cleaning services? Are they just short-staffed in cleaning crew or other aspects of the airport? It took quite a while to get through security, even though there were relatively few people in line when I came through. I read recently in the Citizen Times that Asheville Airport had a record number of passengers. Maybe they can’t handle the increase?
Answer: Right now the airport is short of only one custodian, according to Tina Kinsey, the director of marketing, public relations and air service development. If it sparks interest, you can find more information about the job at flyavl.com/careers.
If there are times when the airport is dirty, it's more to do with logistics than staffing, Kinsey told me via email March 8.
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"There can be times when literally hundreds of departing and arriving passengers are in our gate areas, eating and drinking at their seats, using the restrooms and trashcans, and we are bursting at the seams," she said.
"Logistically, restrooms cannot be closed for cleaning during these times. Instead, our dedicated and extremely hard-working custodial team work to restock and spot check, and then fully clean gate areas and restock restrooms during less busy times. On a strategic level, the airport is moving towards expanding the terminal to right-size it for the growing passenger utilization, and then we will have more and larger gate area and restroom options."
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The sign the reader referenced is there to support the custodial staff, Kinsey said.
"We display this sign in the terminal to support all airport team members who work for the many organizations that do business at the airport ― from custodians, guest services clerks, rental car and ticket counter staff, restaurant team members and more," she said. "We want to encourage our customers to remember the staffing challenges that continue to be realities of our world at this time, and show patience and kindness to the team members who are here every day providing services for customers."
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As far as pay, Kinsey said that full-time custodial technicians start from $16.64/hour, and "have access to a competitive benefits package that includes company paid dental, vision, group life, and disability, plus medical, wellness incentives and retirement benefits through the NC state retirement system."
The growth the reader referenced has led to the airport "proposing to increase staffing numbers in various departments," she said. That's in the budgeting process.
In 2022, more than 1.8 million passengers passed through the airport, a 29% increase over 2021 and the highest number of passengers seen in a single year, according to the airport.
"With our competitive compensation packages, we continue to recruit quality team members and are seeing improvements in the region's workforce supply," Kinsey said.
Ryan Oehrli covers public safety, breaking news, courts and other beats for the Citizen Times. Comments? Questions? Tips? Send them to coehrli@citizentimes.com or 252-944-6816. Follow Oehrli on Twitter at @oehrli. Support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man: Asheville Regional Airport is dirty? How's upkeep?
