A runway is the main street to every city. In Houston’s case, there are twelve. With air traffic at an all time high in Houston, the runways see a lot of wear and tear. On a good weather day, there are anywhere from 80 to 100 takeoffs and landings per hour and that’s at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) alone. The Houston Airport System (HAS) has a group of dedicated employees that get down and dirty to ensure safe landings at each of the airports in Houston. They are called the Airfield and Grounds Department or A&G. Alfonso Chicas, an Airfield and Grounds Superintendent at IAH, believes the success of the group is due in large part to the airport employees’ ability to establish and maintain a clean and friendly environment. “A&G is responsible for the maintenance of ground, runways, drainage systems, airway facilities and structures at the airports,” says Chicas. “It involves coordination with other sections at HAS, federal and state agencies, airlines and tenants to ensure safe and efficient operations on a daily basis.” Almost 200 employees encompass this essential section, spanned over the three airports in Houston: IAH, William P. Hobby Airport and Ellington Field. All together, the airports operate 98,000 feet worth of runway pavement - a little more than the length of 273 NFL football fields put together. The safety of an aircraft’s landing can depend on the runway alone. When it comes time to close a runway for routine maintenance, plenty of A&G crews are needed to conquer this feat.But in order to complete a job this big, they work closely with Airport Operations and the Physical, Plant and Maintenance Department (PPM) of the airport system. Routine maintenance work demands that every square inch of the runways at Houston’s airports be in tip-top shape and that they all abide by strict Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules.

© Houston Airport System Keeping the airports clean and safe is a big job that requires a lot of manpower.

Some of those regulations include no holes exceeding three inches in depth on any runway pavement; smooth runways free of cracks and surface variations that could impair directional control of aircraft; and the removal of mud, dirt, sand, loose aggregate, debris, foreign objects, rubber deposits and other contaminants.

The work is done about once a month and begins with the operations crew closing down the scheduled runway for maintenance. In order to do this they must coordinate closely with the FAA air traffic control tower, who in turn will notify aircraft pilots in the sky what runways are closed.  

After closing the runway, the real work begins. Together, they scour the runway to identify problem areas such as bumps, cracks, lightening strikes and even weeds. The smallest piece of debris is a runway’s enemy.

A&G will then begin to seal coats, fill cracks, reseal joints and patch the runway, if needed. Any problem found must be repaired that same day, usually within a few hours time. The ultimate goal is to close the runway, make the necessary repairs on it and to open it back up to traffic in the shortest amount of time possible.  

Along with repairing the runways, Airfield and Grounds have many other responsibilities.

At IAH alone, A&G employees look after 35 miles of public roadways, maintain more than 3,700 acres of grass, 110 acres of flowerbeds and over 400 miles of aircraft operated pavement. They also support the Airport Rangers program by maintaining nearly 40 miles of horse trails for the volunteers to patrol perimeters of Bush Intercontinental.

A&G also contributes to the non-aviation revenue hay program on airport grounds at all three airports.

The employees of Airfield and Grounds use a variety of equipment and tools to complete their daily jobs. From the flail, a commonly used medieval tool, to bulldozers, tractors, cement mixers and other machinery.

“A&G is a 24/7, 365 day operation,” says Chicas. “The contributions of A&G employees have always been a vital factor in creating a positive image of our airports to visitors of our city.”

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