PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia International Airport is rolling out some new and refurbished restrooms as the city prepares to welcome visitors for the events of 2026.
This month, sleek rebuilt restrooms opened at Terminal A East baggage claim and A West ticketing at PHL. Another set in Terminal C will open Tuesday, and the restrooms near Terminal D/E ticketing will go into service this summer.
"We know it makes a difference for our passengers. Whether they come through the door here, whether it's a boarding bridge or the front door of our terminals, and so we've been modernizing our existing restrooms," said Api Appulingam, the airport's chief development officer.
Of the airport's 48 restroom sets, 11 are currently under construction. The airport expects to modernize 32 restrooms by 2028 under its current five-year, $39 million construction project.
They feature modern amenities including smart tech to alert staff when supplies run low, and feedback tablets to let customers rate their experience.
There are also touchless sink units with soap, water and a dryer. "They're all co-located so you could wash, put soap, and dry your hands standing in one spot at the sink," Appulingam told KYW Newsradio. The restrooms also feature stepstools so children can reach the sink.
The refurbished restrooms also have red or green door lights to indicate whether a stall is in use. "Our new restrooms have that light embedded on the door," Appulingam explained. "When passengers see a green light they'll go straight to it and they'll do whatever they need to do. They see a red light, they'll go past it and go to the one that has a green light."
"In some of our older restrooms, there's color and we went away from that to give a clean, modern look. So we have neutral finishes," she said.
Appulingam said the refurbished restrooms have neutral colors with terrazzo floors that minimize the need for grout. "Our flooring and our walls are built in a way where there's less grout lines. Because grout lines, we know, can have bacteria or can darken over time giving the impression that it's not clean."
The new restrooms are about 900 square feet larger than the previous facilities.
"We did recognize that our restrooms were on the smaller end," Appulingam said. "During our design, we captured additional space to make our restrooms bigger."
"Every single person that I've seen in that restroom is looking at it from floor to ceiling and just in amazement of how bright and big the spaces are. Everybody loves them."