FM newsroom – airport cleaning, facility management. How often does a passenger think about how clean an airport is? Relatively rarely, but dirt is immediately noticeable. Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport has received several awards for its cleanliness. We had the opportunity to take a look at the work of the cleaners responsible for this, and it will never feel the same to return to the airport without noticing that the Budapest hub shines thanks to the dedicated work of hundreds of people.
A departing passenger spends an average of two and a half hours at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport. Hundreds of employees work in multiple shifts to ensure that passengers don’t notice their work during that time. If they do notice it, it usually means something is wrong — cleaning is the kind of job that only stands out when it hasn’t been done properly. To make sure this isn’t the case at Budapest Airport — which regularly appears on lists of the cleanest European airports — one of Central and Eastern Europe’s leading facility management companies, B+N Group, is responsible. Krisztina Jakab, regional manager of B+N Magyarország Kft., guided 24.hu around the airport to show who does this essential work and how.
Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport covers 15.5 hectares, including not only terminals, runways, and parking lots but dozens of service buildings as well — altogether 92,000 square meters that must be kept clean 24 hours a day.
The Hungarian-owned B+N Group, present in nine countries, covers a significant part of airport cleaning: they clean all terminals and 41 additional buildings, including facilities essential for aircraft handling and airport operations.
What makes airport cleaning special?
Like in other countries, airports in Hungary are considered critical infrastructure, so extremely strict rules and regulations must be followed by anyone working there. Employees, like passengers, undergo security screening every day, including bag screening and metal detectors. As it turned out, one of the most important rules concerns doors: while moving around the airport with our guides, we frequently passed through doors that can only be opened with a special card, and in every case, you must wait for them to close so that no unauthorised person can slip through. This is one of the most important rules—breaking it can result in heavy fines, and even letting others, such as a colleague, use your card can lead to penalties. The stakes are high not only because of the fines: if someone manages to get through without a card, the entire terminal area is subjected to a search. It is therefore not worth taking risks; we clung to our cards as if they were our most valuable treasure, and as far as could be observed, everyone really does pay attention to this everywhere and patiently waits for the sometimes slightly slow doors to close.
Once inside, another challenge arises: navigating the huge area. Efficiency depends on workers learning the layout and distances — it can be frustrating to realise a mop was left on the other end of the airport.
„On average, 25–32 thousand steps a day” — reveals Krisztina Jakab when asked how much group leaders walk daily, which also clearly shows the incredible size of the airport.
It is difficult even to list everything they are responsible for. In addition to classic areas such as toilets, basement changing rooms, the restaurant area, corridors, or the VIP Lounge, they also perform numerous specialised tasks: their industrial climbers clean the airport’s highest point, the 53-metre-high control tower and its windows; with lifting cranes they maintain the 28 totem columns in the largest hall; and they are also responsible for keeping boarding bridges clean.
The areas and surfaces to be covered expand over time. They also clean the massage chairs and bicycles installed at the airport, as well as the so-called sensory room designed for people living with autism or other sensory sensitivities.
Robots and humans are jointly responsible for cleanliness
Cleaning is supported by machines, including ride-on scrubbers, walk-behind machines, and several cleaning robots called ROBIN. The “cobot”, or collaborative cleaning robot developed by B+N, is suitable for cleaning large continuous areas and is capable of relatively autonomous work. Naturally, the task is started by its “supervisors”, the company’s employees, via a mobile application.
Technologies are continuously updated: the company provides opportunities to attend numerous exhibitions and professional events and also organises such events, where they monitor what new technologies could make cleaning even more efficient.
While ROBIN robots operate continuously, human employees rotate in 8-12-hour shifts.
“We take into account signals from every employee, for example if someone is raising a child and may not be able to start their shift at the same time. We also have colleagues with reduced work capacity, and we can work with them in a specialised way. We do not expect the same level of output from them as from other colleagues, but we can find everyone their place at the airport,” says Krisztina Jakab.
After being hired, employees receive meticulous training, which is taken extremely seriously: they must comply not only with safety but also hygiene regulations, as the stakes are very high.
“What I primarily emphasise during training is that our work is the most important at the airport, because we can stop a pandemic anywhere, at any time,” Jakab explains.
She herself arrived at the airport from the hotel industry in 2021, and significant transformations have taken place since then. Although she arrived as a manager, she also supervised and ran shifts herself to fully understand the processes — as she says, to “learn the airport”. Under her leadership they have become a truly cohesive team.
Everyone starts as a cleaner, but it is possible to move up quickly
This is confirmed by area manager Máté Zsoldos and group leader Eugénia Balogh, who both started working at the airport as cleaners — both agree it cannot be done any other way.
“You cannot lead or manage if you do not understand the smallest tasks; I think that is a basic requirement here. We do not have any group leaders who did not start as cleaners with us or who came straight into such a position from elsewhere. We say we ‘train them into our ranks’. Even if they come from elsewhere. Much greater discipline is required, much more training, there are a lot of rules. And you do not enter here the way you would elsewhere — you immediately undergo a screening,” says Máté Zsoldos, who started as a cleaner before the coronavirus pandemic, became a group leader a few months later, and moved into an area manager position last year.
Eugénia Balogh also moved quickly up the ladder: she previously cleaned in an office building at the company, and has been a group leader at the airport for ten months. She gives a vivid example of how cleaning differs from place to place.
“If you go into an office building at night to clean, it is empty. You clean it, close the door, and your work is done. Here it is not like that,” she says.
However, both emphasise that the unpredictability is where the job’s appeal lies. No two working days are the same, and there is always something exciting. “It has a certain magic,” adds Máté. They see the greatest value in the exciting challenges, the airport’s atmosphere, and the team.
When asked about a typical working day, they smile: there is no such thing at the airport. They start early in the morning, assign tasks to employees, and then everyone sets off to do their jobs in their assigned departments. Group leaders ensure employees have all the tools and chemicals they need to do their work. They assign additional tasks and sometimes attend training sessions, but this can be overridden by extraordinary situations, such as the freezing rain a few weeks ago. In the afternoon they prepare for the night shift so they can pass on all information.
They recommend the job to those who are attracted by challenges and do not like monotony. Based on their own experience, they see excellent career opportunities here, and the fact that it is possible to move up the ladder quickly also makes it attractive.
Ever greener cleaning
Reducing the ecological footprint is critical across all areas. Every year B+N reviews its processes, chemicals, and waste management procedures. They work with the background departments, the EHS department, and quality management to continuously analyse how to improve efficiency. For example, they pay particular attention to ensuring that chemicals do not contain phosphorus. Dilution of chemicals is also an important issue: they have managed to ease the logistics of concentrates, as previously the containers holding chemical concentrates generated a lot of waste.
By applying green technologies, they strive to ensure that those passing through the airport encounter outstanding quality in every situation, as experience shows that this is what passengers expect most.
“Green technology is very important to us, because we must not only look at what our environment is like today, but what will remain of it for our children. The role of the future is extremely important, and the value that can be passed on to future generations,” adds Krisztina Jakab.