Red carpet at Miami International Airport a thing of the past

Air travel, which once boasted of its red-carpet service, is becoming no-carpet service – at least at Miami International Airport.

All the carpet in the airport is to be eliminated and replaced whenever possible with terrazzo, Aviation Director Ralph Cutié told the county’s Airport and Economic Development Committee last week.

The change, he said, would help with maintenance and be cost effective. “It would be better for our janitorial staff, better for customer service, it’s a better look,” he said.

“Those directives have already been given and you’ll see all of our projects in the future in the next five, ten years will be terrazzo,” he said. “It’s easier to clean. Carpet gets soiled two days after it’s installed.”

Mr. Cutié detailed his plans after Commissioner Raquel Regalado asked about removing some of the airport’s moving walkways, which are not required under the Americans With Disabilities Act, and replacing them with tile or terrazzo as a better return on airport investment than repairing frequently broken moving walkways.

Carpeting leading to the walkways, she said, is an issue, because “moving luggage on carpet is a disaster. I think people would appreciate tile, and I’m sure that the tile is a lot easier to maintain than the carpet.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Mr. Cutié responded. “I’ve already instructed since last year both our maintenance staff and our capital development staff that in the future as we build out our capital program and as we rehab certain areas with our maintenance that we eliminate all of our carpet and either go to terrazzo, which would be the preferred choice – terrazzo is more costly in the front end, obviously it’s a bigger investment, it’s a more costly flooring option, but it’s easier to maintain, so if you save money on maintenance…”

“I know that terrazzo is expensive,” Ms. Regalado said, “but I’ll bet that it’s cheaper than fixing a [moving] walkway.”