RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Some passengers traveling through RDU International Airport are taking advantage of a free car wash after coming back from their trips to find paint chips stuck to their parked cars.
The ceiling paint is peeling and chipping in several places inside RDU's main parking deck where people pay $15-$22/day to leave their cars. Most of the time, the paint chips fall to the ground, but what doesn't come off passenger's cars, the airport is paying to wash.
"We apologize to our customers," said Michael Landguth, RDU Pres. and CEO. "It's unacceptable."
Landguth told ABC11 the problem started about a year ago with an effort to clean the deck.
Crews power washed and re-painted the ceiling on the 2nd-6th floors of the deck, but with the humidity, the paint started to chip.
"It's not bonding very well and so we are rapidly trying to come up with a solution and it's been challenging," Landguth said. "We really try to make a world class experience in terms of what the physical facility looks like, but we need to do a better job."
Beginning after Labor Day, RDU will work on a permanent fix, closing off 500-800 parking spaces in its main deck in order to remove the paint and take the ceiling back to bare concrete.
In the meantime, affected customers, before leaving the airport, should contact RDU Parking Services at 919-840-7587 to arrange a car wash if needed.