Welcome toGeorge Bush Intercontinental Airport

At George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), some of the most challenging landscaping jobs are on the steep, grassy embankments surrounding airport roadways and infrastructure.For Houston Airports Maintenance crews, mowing those slopes has traditionally meant navigating uneven terrain with heavy equipment, where a sudden slide or rollover could cause serious injury.Now, a new machine is changing where employees need to be to get the job done.Houston Airports has introduced its first Energreen RoboECO, a compact, remote-controlled mower designed to tackle steep terrain while allowing employees to operate it from safer ground."Our maintenance teams work in challenging environments every day, and their safety has to come first," said Cliff Price, general manager of Bush Airport for Houston Airports. "This equipment allows us to tackle some of our most difficult mowing jobs without putting an employee directly on a steep slope. That's a meaningful improvement in how we protect our people."Unlike traditional riding mowers, the RoboECO has no driver's seat. Instead, an employee operates it using a handheld remote control. The mower travels on rubber tracks rather than wheels, helping it maintain traction on uneven ground. Its low profile and specialized track system are designed to provide stability on steep inclines.According to manufacturer Energreen America, the RoboECO can operate on slopes of up to 61 degrees and features a 40-inch cutting deck. Its remote control has a maximum operating range of approximately 490 feet, although actual working distances depend on conditions and safety requirements.The mower is not autonomous. A trained employee remains responsible for controlling its movements, monitoring conditions and operating the cutting equipment.While the RoboECO cuts grass at a pace comparable to conventional equipment, its primary advantage is reducing the need for employees to operate heavy machinery on steep embankments.Houston Airports currently has one RoboECO at IAH, where Maintenance employees are receiving hands-on training and evaluating its performance. The team will assess its handling, cutting effectiveness and suitability for different slopes before determining whether to invest in additional units."We're approaching this as both a safety investment and an opportunity to improve how we maintain the airport," Price said. "Our employees are the ones who understand these conditions best. Their experience operating the mower will help us determine where this technology makes sense and whether we should expand its use."

At George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), a former boiler room is helping solve a problem passengers should never have to think about: how to replace the equipment that cools their terminal without turning off the air conditioning.The former boiler room now houses three smaller chillers to support cooling while Houston Airports modernizes its Central Utilities Plant at IAH.The plant supplies chilled water for air conditioning and hot water for heating in IAH’s core terminal area. Chillers cool the water, which travels through pipes to equipment that uses it to absorb heat from terminal air. What passengers feel is the result, not the machinery.The system’s importance became clear in June 2023, when two chillers failed within 24 hours and temperatures rose inside the terminals. Temporary chillers helped restore cooling, but the failures added urgency to modernization plans already underway.Starting in 2027, Houston Airports will replace four chillers and pumps, install a new roof and repair the plant’s utility tunnel. The work will continue through 2028. Hensel Phelps is the design-build contractor.“This is not a project where we can turn everything off and start over,” said Scott Hill, chief infrastructure officer for Houston Airports. “We have to put support in place first, then replace equipment in a sequence that keeps the airport operating. Those preparations are just as important as the new equipment itself.”Built in the 1960s and expanded over the decades, the plant has equipment at or nearing the end of its service life. The modernization is designed to increase cooling capacity, improve efficiency and provide decades of additional service from major equipment components.Houston Airports Director of Aviation Jim Szczesniak, Chief Operating Officer Kelly Woodward and other senior leaders toured the facility in November to review preparations for the work ahead.“Passengers should be thinking about where they are going, not whether the airport’s cooling system can keep up,” Hill said. “Investing in this critical asset is part of taking care of the people who use our airport today and making sure the infrastructure is ready to serve them for years to come.”

Four robots are helping custodians keep floors clean at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), taking on repetitive work so employees can focus on restrooms, high-touch surfaces and immediate passenger needs.The deployment makes IAH the first Texas airport to use TASKI robotic cleaning technology and the first U.S. airport to deploy the company’s combination of autonomous sweepers and scrubbers. Houston Airports placed the four machines into operational use the week of Aug. 10.“Maintaining 2.1 million square feet is a round-the-clock responsibility, and innovation helps us use every resource wisely,” said Cliff Price, general manager of IAH for Houston Airports. “These robots are not replacing our custodians. They are handling repetitive floor care so our employees can devote more time to work that requires human attention and immediate passenger needs.”Each machine has an assignment suited to its size and capabilities:- One TASKI Phantas works in the security queue inside the Terminal E Ticketing Lobby. Designed for tighter spaces, the compact robot sweeps, vacuums, scrubs and dust-mops, with manufacturer-rated coverage of up to 7,535 square feet per hour.- One Ecobot 50 works on the Terminal E mezzanine level. It can scrub and dry up to 19,375 square feet per hour and can use diamond pads to clean and enhance the shine of the terrazzo flooring.- Two Ecobot 40 sweepers work in the Terminal D-West concourse. Each can sweep and vacuum up to 12,916 square feet of carpet or hard flooring per hour.Those figures reflect manufacturer-rated productivity. Actual coverage varies with passenger traffic, floor type, cleaning mode and terminal conditions.The machines work independently, but not without human oversight. Employees map and assign cleaning routes. The robots then use laser-based navigation, cameras and sensors to detect passengers, luggage and other obstacles and adjust their paths. Custodians oversee routing, performance and maintenance.That division of labor leaves people responsible for the work that requires judgment and direct attention. Custodians clean restrooms multiple times daily and disinfect high-touch surfaces, including handrails, seating and tables, throughout the day. Service increases with passenger traffic.Passengers also help identify where attention is needed. Digital feedback screens inside airport restrooms allow travelers to select a happy or sad face and submit comments. Negative ratings automatically trigger a prioritized custodial response.The robots add to an established cleaning operation. During FIFA World Cup 2026, before the TASKI deployment, restrooms maintained by Houston Airports recorded about 1 million visits and earned a 94% positive passenger rating.Houston Airports plans to expand the robotic fleet at IAH. Additional floor cleaning robots are budgeted for Terminals A, D and E and the airport Subway tunnel.