23 AirportImprovement.com November | December 2026 FACILITIES LAS | SLC Robotic units may be the most visible part of the autonomous cleaning transition, but they are only the beginning. Putting Robots to Work Labor shortages provided the initial push toward autonomous equipment at some airports. Recruiting and retaining workers for facilities maintenance has traditionally been a challenge for many airports and also the third-party cleaning contractors that service them. But even during a tight labor market, guests still expect airports to properly maintain their facilities. The link between overall customer satisfaction and facility cleanliness—especially restrooms— is well established in many annual passenger surveys. When good help is hard to find, some airports turn to autonomous equipment to fill the gap. Cleaning robots perform repetitive tasks and free up employees for work that requires human attention and judgment. Bruce Arnold, assistant director of Facilities Maintenance, Aviation Services at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), has personally experienced these dynamics. Arnold has worked at the airport for about 19 years and in various other related capacities since 1985. Today, he oversees the airport’s 11-person Aviation Services team, approximately 440 janitorial personnel and associated administrative staff. Together, they are responsible for 11 miles of baggage conveyor, about 100 passenger boarding bridges, vertical transportation, waste management and other contracted services. For Arnold and many others managing facility maintenance, workforce shortages during and after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need to find other ways to get work done. “Complacency has no part of anyone’s job, no matter what job you’re in,” he asserts. “We can’t just say, ‘Well, this is the way we did it for the last 40 years.’” Autonomous scrubbers and vacuums offered SLC a practical place to start. They handle repetitive, measurable maintenance tasks in open areas while employees focus on detailed work and other jobs that require a human touch. Today, the airport operates a fleet of 20 cleaning robots from Gausium. (See Page 22 for list of various models.) The scale of SLC—two large concourses and 87 aircraft gates—lends itself to automating cleaning tasks. “We measure our terrazzo in acres now, not square footage,” Arnold points out. Currently, the airport has about 90 acres of various flooring surfaces to clean. At LAS, Kley brings a hospitality perspective shaped by previous experience with Disney, Universal Orlando, MGM, Hilton and other hotel and resort operations. He oversees passenger services and custodial operations for 12 million square feet of terminal space and considers the condition of those areas an important part of the first and last impressions that Las Vegas makes on visitors. Kley says 12 autonomous cleaning machines from CenoBots help protect the airport’s investment in its floors. “If you don’t have a strong cleaning program, your floors will never last,” he advises. In addition, Kley highlights the consistency such equipment provides: “They’ll do the same path, the same square footage with the same pressure, same pads and same chemical every single time that you run these machines.” Flagship Facility Services, a third- party cleaning contractor for SLC and more than 30 other U.S. airports, operates nearly 150 autonomous floor scrubbers and vacuums. Jeff Williams, the company’s director of autonomous operations at the airports it services, notes that Flagship’s fleet has evolved over time. It started with units from ICE and Tennant years ago, including Tennant equipment powered by Brain Corp’s BrainOS technology. Currently, Flagship BRUCE ARNOLD
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