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Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who has now gone through three airport chiefs, declined to disclose why he ousted the latest general manager he hired to oversee the world’s busiest airport and the state’s biggest job generator.
But Reed did share some of what he’d like to fix.
One thing is the bathrooms at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He thinks they need to be cleaner.
Personally, I don’t like dirty bathrooms, so if dumping Miguel Southwell as the airport’s general manager will make toilets more pristine, well, I guess it’s time to flush.
I assume, though, that the mayor’s issues with Southwell had to do with something more than commodes.
Oddly, he didn’t just outright state what they are.
But when questioned by reporters at a recent press conference, Reed did talk about frustrations he has, such as with the crazy long security lines at Hartsfield-Jackson (and plenty of other major U.S. airports).
The airport’s economic importance goes way beyond the city. Hartsfield-Jackson, after all, is Georgia’s golden goose.
Now it will be on its fourth general manager in about six years. Three will have been chosen by Reed.
I’m hearing that Queen song in my head: “Another One Bites the Dust.”
I hope the mayor gets it right this time. A little stability should be good for business.
I tried to get Southwell’s side of the story, but I didn’t hear back from him.
He’s obviously a guy who has been willing to tackle challenges in the past. He started as an intern at Hartsfield-Jackson when it was just Hartsfield and moved his way up there and at the Miami airport. He once tried and failed to launch his own airline to fly between Atlanta and the Caribbean. (He’s from Antigua, a two-island Caribbean nation that has about a third as many people as go through Hartsfield-Jackson on an average day.)
General managers at Atlanta’s airport carry a big title, but they’re often caught in a squeeze. Their biggest tenant, Delta Air Lines, knows how to shove its weight around and apparently has a tight relationship with the mayor, the general manager’s boss.
The TSA handles the security screening of passengers and can pretty much do what it wants. All that limits what a GM can do.
But they are responsible for continuing to fuel business at the airport, recruiting new airlines, keeping current tenants happy, pleasing passengers, launching big building projects and helping keep everyone safe.
Lately, long security lines have chapped travelers at many airports. They’re moaning in Chicago and D.C. and New York, just as they are here. The delays are apparently are a result of a math problem: the number of people flying has increased, but there are fewer federal TSA workers after years of Congressional funding cuts.
Southwell, the ousted airport chief, didn’t create the situation. But the mayor suggested more urgency is needed to come up with a solution, such as maybe a return to privatization of security operations, which reminds me of what the airport had leading up to 9/11.
If Reed is trying to light a fire for action, it might have been wise to move a little farther away from the jet fuel. He dumped Hartsfield-Jackson’s general manager just a week before the summer travel rush begins with the Memorial Day weekend.
The problems won’t be solved by then. Winning federal approval for privatization is a long process, I’ve read. So I suspect the mayor’s frustrations won’t disappear any time soon.
So here’s a suggestion for the next general manager: Keep your suitcase packed.
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