To assist visitors to Kansas City (Mo.) International Airport, the Kansas City Aviation Department is enlisting the help of volunteers. Known as the KCI Airport Ambassadors, participants serve as goodwill representatives and roving information booths.

Distinguished by their brick-red blazers, the Ambassadors circulate through the three airport terminals greeting and assisting travelers with flight information and directions to baggage claim. They also provide information on ground transportation, hotels, dining, shopping and area attractions.

Currently, 32 volunteers work one day a week on one of two shifts, and many of them are retired airport personnel who want to stay in touch with activity at the airport. "They are a dedicated group of people," says Erica Hupp, communications specialist for KCI Airport.

The volunteers are given two hours of training, a manual of policies and procedures and then a tour of the airport. Hupp accompanies them on the first two hours of their first day of work, and a fellow volunteer accompanies them the second two hours.

The KCI Airport Ambassador program started in June 1998. The program has received such widespread acceptance that the aviation department has begun recruiting again to ensure that all three terminals are thoroughly covered.