Reagan, Dulles airports to get UV air filters to kill Covid, other pathogens

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority wants to install ultraviolet disinfection technology at Reagan National and Dulles International airports to disinfect the air in high-traffic areas.

According to a statement of work the agency filed June 4, the UV germicidal irradiation technology would "control airborne transmission of pathogens," including coronavirus and influenza, by killing any bacterial and viral organisms with UV light circulating through the airports' air systems.

The agency is currently searching for a contractor to design and build the project, scheduled to be mostly complete by Nov. 15, in time for an anticipated surge in air travel around Thanksgiving. According to MWAA's website, the work is expected to cost between $3 million and $4 million.

Interested companies can submit their bids by July 14 to provide all labor, materials, tools, equipment and supervision for the project at the two airports . The agency will award the contract in August, but spokeswoman Christina Saull declined to share more information.

"The health and safety of the traveling public continues to be the number one priority of Reagan National and Dulles International airports," Saull said in an email.

D.C.-area building owners have looked to UV and ionization systems to clear the air since the start of the pandemic, the Washington Business Journal's Dan Sernovitz reported in May 2020. In a July 2020 article, NPR cited prior research that found close to 90% of airborne particles from SARS-CoV-1, a previous coronavirus, can be inactivated within 16 seconds when exposed to a significant UV dose.

"It's a well-proven, extremely safe technology that is underused and often misunderstood," Edward Nardell, Harvard University professor in the Departments of Environmental Health and Immunology and Infectious Diseases, told NPR in that article. "No one doubts the efficacy of germicidal UV in killing small microorganisms and pathogens. I think the bigger controversy, if there is any, is misperceptions around safety."

Citing the pandemic's impact on the region's dominant airports, MWAA wrote in the statement of work that the technology will make both Reagan and Dulles safer by disinfecting the air in ticketing and baggage claim areas, security checkpoints, transit platforms and gate hold rooms (39 spaces at Reagan and 73 at Dulles).

The project will first involve the installation of upper air UV and in-unit, air handling devices, which will then require testing for performance and safety. Airport staff at Reagan and Dulles will undergo safety training, while each airport will receive a handheld radiometer to measure the intensity of the ultraviolet radiation, and after approval, a 12-month warranty period will begin, according to the statement of work.

The agency's list of possible bidders, as of June 30, named 14 companies, including nine based in Greater Washington: