Millions of visitors throng airports on a regular basis - traveling, resting, transiting and what not. However, behind the hustle and bustle of an airport lies an intensive cleaning program. Technology, housekeeping, innovative solutions and a lot of hard work to keep an airport spick and span. Doha Hamad International Airport was voted the Cleanest Airport in the Middle East. by World Airport Awards. We spoke to Michael McMillan – Senior Vice President, Facilities Management, Hamad International Airport to understand their challenges, solutions and best practices that leave a precedent in hygiene. 

Why is cleaning and hygiene important to Hamad International Airport?

Maintaining a clean, safe and hygienic environment is imbedded within Hamad International Airport’s health and safety standards and asset management, for our staff and the millions of passengers departing, arriving or transferring through our facility. A clean airport is an expectation for all passengers and with the pandemic, it has become a requirement that we adhere to stringent hygiene and cleaning processes to safeguard travelers and communities we serve. 

We have adopted the best standards in the industry and invested in new equipment, safe chemicals, revised our cleaning schedules and enhanced our cleaning services across all touch points of the airport and continue to regularly sanitize the airport through our planned maintenance regime. 

We want to instill passenger confidence in choosing Hamad International Airport to be part of their travel journey, protect our staff and maintain the airport’s visual aesthetics, therefore regardless of how busy the airport is, our standard of maintaining a clean, hygienic and safe airport is always a priority.

What are the airport’s challenges in terms of cleaning?

Hamad International Airport’s passenger terminal spans across 725,000 square meters including Phase A of the expansion plan which was unveiled in November 2022. During the construction of the airport, to adhere to the environmental conditions, the best materials were sourced in order to maintain a high standard and bespoke aesthetics to our global passengers and commercial partners. Additionally, Hamad International Airport is home to multiple luxury experiences such as premium lounges, retail and F&B offering and world-renowned art installations which all require special attention in order to manage and maintain the assets and enhance their life expectancy.

The airport operates 24 hours a day throughout the year, with several peak periods in a day. With an extensive mix of materials and fabrications used as part of its infrastructure and the challenges presented by the local weather including dust, humidity and very occasional rain, our cleaning operations has to ensure our passenger’s journey and navigating through the airport isn’t impacted, the airport is always immaculate and our assets are properly taken care of, including the high ceilings.

How does the airport overcome these challenges?

We constantly review new and advanced procedures to ensure the cleanliness and hygiene of the airport is never compromised. We collaborate with our suppliers to invest in training their staff to develop the precise skillsets to meet the requirements of our commercial partners and passenger expectations. We consider the Facilities Management team as family, therefore strive to have a collaborative working environment with multiple teams and stakeholders in order to have a positive impact on our business.

In order to maintain international airport cleanliness and hygiene standards, we frequently review and improve our procedures, based on data, and utilize the best equipment including robots and technologies.

Your best practices in cleaning and hygiene / How you became the cleanest airport in the world (exclusive measures and best practices)

Hamad International Airport was named the 2023 Cleanest Airport in the Middle East by the prestigious SKYTRAX World Airport Awards and we take pride in our approach towards maintaining a clean and hygienic airport. Due to the pandemic, we introduced enhanced health and sanitary measures which we have retained and we continue to communicate with passengers and staff the first line of defense, which is hand hygiene; and dispersed sanitizing stations across the airport to support that effort.

We constantly sanitize the touchpoints across the airport, such as security screening areas, all counters including check-in, boarding and information counters and kiosks to minimize the risk of cross-contamination, and implemented UV Disinfection at high risk facilities and areas, such as washrooms and escalators. Additionally, the airport frequently undergoes deep cleaning in multiple areas at the airport.

As the health and wellness of our passengers and staff is important, we use effective eco-friendly green chemicals and consider the safest and efficient methods of disposing waste.

Auditing of cleaning performance is vital to maintain standards, solve problems and make improvements. The Airport Team perform the audits jointly with our suppliers, compile the results and take corrective actions, putting our customers at the heart of every decision.

What are the cleaning technologies you currently use and what would like to use in the future?

At Hamad International Airport we have taken the utmost measures in cleaning and keeping the airport safe and hygienic. Using Ultraviolet disinfection (UVD) technology promotes a safer and hygienic environment for passengers and staff, therefore we have installed automatic devices at our travellators and escalators to disinfect the handrails and introduced multiple touchless solutions to minimize human touch, while navigating through the airport. We have also invested in five Ultraviolet cleaning robots with the capability of targeting large public areas such as offices and toilets and have one general cleaning robot.

To maintain the luxurious aesthetic of the airport, the glass funnels at the ORCHARD are cleaned twice a month and the ceiling across Concourse C undergoes cleaning gradually within the year, utilizing the Mobile Elevated Working Platforms (MEWP). We have added an automated cleaning robot to our collection of single disk, pedestrian and ride on machines and conduct an Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) Swab test to ensure that our facility maintains the highest hygienic standards. 

As airports adopt innovative solutions to optimize their operations, it is essential to consider new technologies and electronic systems for auditing purposes and data collection. These insights on the cleaning and hygiene standards of an airport can help identify any gaps or showcase areas that require improvement, so processes can be implemented accordingly.

What is you take on Outsourced cleaning vs in House cleaning team?

At Hamad International Airport, we work closely with our partners and suppliers to ensure the health, safety, cleanliness and hygiene of the airport is in accordance with global standards. There are benefits to working with industry experts in order to receive optimal results. We currently have over five suppliers that support our goal towards being the cleanest airport in the region and one of the best in the world.

How did you manage cleaning operations during the FIFA world cup (when the footfall was extremely high)?

We already have a stringent hygiene and cleaning process and schedule resources accordingly, in line with the peak travel on a daily basis. We expected higher passenger numbers during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and coordinated with our operations team to identify peak hours for us to plan our cleaning operations accordingly. We also identified other areas that had high foot fall in order to plan and schedule frequent cleaning accordingly. Overall, our methods of cleaning didn’t vary, we simply did it more often.