Atlanta Hartsfield  Jackson International Airport is getting the big clean up. The airport has  become run down in the eyes of its general manager Ben DeCosta, and he has initiated a new program to rally all of the employees to raise their standards in keeping the airport clean.

He recently flew halfway around the world to be dazzled by the white-glove cleanliness of the airports in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Seoul, South Korea, only to return to be ashamed by the state of Hartsfield-Jackson.

“I came back and I mentioned to my staff that I was embarrassed. The comparison was stark,” DeCosta said.

He invited his wife, Milly, to take a Sunday evening stroll through Hartsfield.

Brandishing his digital Casio EXLIM camera (which he usually keeps in his pocket to document events at the airport, including interviews with reporters), DeCosta and his wife spent three hours photographing Hartsfield’s failures at being a world-class international airport.

Their snapshots included doors that needed painting and trash left by passengers. His wife even photographed problems in the women’s bathrooms.

I wish Ben DeCosta well on this project. I have never been a big fan of his since his work at both Newark and Atlanta’s airports have been a history of huge construction projects that do very little and spend lots of money. Newark was a mess when he left, and Atlanta has been a mess since he arrived.

But  if he can clean up  the airport, he may redeem himself in my eyes a little.