The friendly skies in Norman Mineta San Jose international Airport’s recently renovated Terminal A lobby is the victim of a mysterious noxious smell behind the ticket counter that makes some observers think they have stuck their heads in a septic tank.
“It’s like being in an outhouse,” Steve Newell, general manager of the US Airways San Jose field station, told Mercury News.
Big fans and industrial odor-neutralizing machines have not tamed the problem. But the sewer-like smell keeps stubbornly returning.
“The last two days, it came back like gangbusters. It was literally like you stuck your head in a septic tank,” Newell said.
While airline personnel are threatening not to stop paying rent, there have so far been no complaints from passengers.
The airport was named after a former FAA administrator.
By David Wilkening
