Pleasant surroundings, space for luggage, shorter queues, hygienic fixtures – what are passengers’ topmost requirements of an airport washroom, and how can these facilities be improved? Giving his insights on the issue is Tork manufacturer Essity’s, Tom Marshall.
Air travel is bouncing back. According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation it is growing at a rate of three percent a year, with around 9.4 billion passengers expected to fly in 2024. This is good news for a sector that was massively impacted by COVID-19. However, the growth in passenger numbers is adding extra pressure on airport washrooms.
These facilities come in for heavy usage by passengers during their long wait for flights as well as immediately after landing. But high washroom traffic can lead to queues, logjams, runouts of soap and paper, and messy facilities.
A recent study carried out by United Minds revealed that 80 percent of people now expect toilets in public places to be more hygienic than they did before the pandemic. So, the airport washroom is coming under more scrutiny than ever, and a bad experience will be off-putting for passengers.
There has been a growing understanding of this in the US where airports are investing heavily in upgrading their facilities. Clean and comfortable toilets are essential to a positive airport experience according to Baltimore- Washington International Marshall Airport spokesman, Jonathan Dean.
His analysis, published recently in the Washington Post, is echoed by leading US architect, Terry Rookard, who has worked at both the Baltimore hub and at Boston Logan International. Hubs across North America are now improving their facilities with enhanced hygiene topping their agenda. Some airports are moving away from tiling their washroom walls or choosing larger tiles or glass surfaces instead because these are easier to clean. Technology is increasingly being used in US airport washrooms in the form of automated taps and flush systems along with connected dispensers that inform staff members when toilet paper, soap and paper towel supplies are running low.
Additionally, traffic light systems that glow green when a stall is vacant and red when they are occupied are also increasingly being introduced. Airport washrooms can have a significant impact on a passenger’s experience. Recent research revealed that an increase in customer satisfaction of just one percent can lead to a 1.5 percent growth in airport revenue. In other words, happy passengers are likely to spend more money on activities such as shopping, eating and drinking than unhappy ones.
So, all efforts should be made to improve airport washrooms across the globe. But creating a pleasant and functional washroom for airline passengers takes creativity and imagination. For example, partitions in place of outer doors will make the entrance easier to negotiate with an unwieldy trolley case in tow.
The cubicles should also be large enough to accommodate carry-on baggage while fixtures such as coat hooks and pegs will help to provide a more comfortable passenger experience. This is already happening in some nations. The ladies and gents’ toilets at Tokyo’s Narita Airport now have dedicated hooks for hanging umbrellas and bags as well as custom-made “baby capsules” built into the walls to allow parents of young children to use the facilities unhampered.
The washrooms at Singapore’s Changi Airport offer electronic bidets and comfortable chairs to improve the passenger experience. And Newark Airport’s washrooms feature a large hand basin and mirror inside every cubicle to prevent overcrowding at the sinks as well as a long, narrow table outside the facility on which passengers can organise their belongings before heading to the gate.
However, the chief requirement of any publicly used washroom is that it should be clean, hygienic, efficiently run and offer continuous supplies of soap and toilet paper.
A recent study commissioned by Essity revealed that many airports take an inefficient approach to cleaning. Just over 50 percent of the cleaners questioned for the Tork Airport’s White Paper said they were likely to have more time for other cleaning tasks if washroom dispensers were quicker and easier to refill. A total of 70 percent of cleaners said they regularly found themselves cleaning unused rooms, while a similar number often came across soap and paper dispensers that had run out of product when they checked them.
Technology can help to solve this issue. Tork Vision Cleaning allows cleaners to remotely check on washroom usage via a smartphone or tablet. Facility managers can then build a profile of visits and use this data to identify those toilets that attract the highest traffic. Tork Vision Cleaning can also ensure that supplies of soap and paper never needs to run out. The system allows cleaners to monitor dispenser refill levels remotely and target those facilities where a top-up of soap or paper is required.
Airports are waking up to the importance of washrooms and are working hard to make them cleaner more pleasant and more convenient for the vast number of passengers who use them. And this can only spell good news for the future of air travel.
For more information visit: www.tork.co.za