Service animals at the Hartsfield-Jackson airport have the luxury of the highest number of bathrooms
Taking care of service animal needs has become a major interest for the aviation industry with airports paying large amounts for their bathrooms.
According to the officials of world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the institution has paid a total of $3.9 million for the construction of Service Animal Relief Areas last year.
Service dog relief area at the Atlanta airport is pretty awesome. #servicedog pic.twitter.com/55qyivg39g
— ⭐️Mackenzie⭐️ (@mkelly007) July 7, 2018
The airport followed federal regulation issued in 2016 that mandates large airports must have Service Animal Relief Areas in use.
Last summer, Atlanta built seven such facilities in order to satisfy the needs of the growing numbers of service animals in the industry.
“In order for Atlanta to be in compliance with federal American with Disabilities Act standards, these relief areas had to be built,” a spokesperson for the airport told Fox News.
“The total cost for building the seven relief areas was absorbed through airport funding, not taxpayer dollars, in the amount of $3.9 million, which is reimbursable through passenger facility charges.”
Thank you @ATLairport for the pet relief station! This is so nice to have when traveling #Atlanta #airport #petreliefarea #travellingpup pic.twitter.com/xItXVE8Fob
— Katherine Trammell (@ktrammell95) September 13, 2017
Airport administrators said any such complex construction inside the airport facility usually turns out to be expensive.
Thomas Nissalke from airport administration explained that the costs were higher because the airport is a 24-hour-a-day operation which limits the options of construction to overnight hours.
He added that some existing facilities had to be torn down in order to construct the new relief areas.
However, the airport might recoup the cost because officials are planning to ask for permission to have all passengers pay for the facility through the $4.50 charge that is on every airline ticket.
