Matching baggage system investment with airport growth

Matching baggage system investment with airport growth. At what point should a growing airport consider moving away from conveyor based sortation. As the world’s airports continue to see annual passenger growth of around 10%, the number of airports where larger capacity sortation is required is growing. Smaller airports will normally have a baggage system based around conveyors and make-up using carousels. These systems will typically vary from having some level of automated sortation allowing some sortation to the ability to provide full sortation. This approach to baggage systems has its limitations but the right support and targeted investment can provide surprisingly high capacities. For small airports delaying the move to more complex sortation approaches delivers a number of benefits including: Delaying major capital investment – replacing a whole baggage system can cost several million through to tens of millions. Delaying this investment can provide significant opportunity for airports to invest in other areas first such as passenger experience or other capacity enablers Reduced maintenance burden – conveyors, vertical sorts, carousels are all relatively easy components of a baggage system to maintain, this enables airports to employee smaller more cost effective maintenance teams rather than the larger more qualified teams required for sorters or cart systems Reduced energy costs – On demand running conveyors can be very energy efficient while sorters require to run continuously using much higher levels of energy Reduced manufacturer reliance – due to the reduced complexity both in the physical components and controls software conveyor based systems […]

Heathrow Terminal 3 Transfer Bag Capacity

Provision of additional capacity to existing T3 Baggage Transfer Facility MM designed solution included extended off-loads, pre-sort facility and Early Bag Sore. Urgent project Benchmarked at £6.5m delivered for £4m – inception to completion 12 months. Concept design options, scheme design and project management including all testing and commissioning and operational readiness. The transfer baggage ADP in Terminal 3 Shelterspan was very poor caused by a lack of capacity, The lack of capacity causing queuing and impacting on other airport operations. MM designed a number of concept proposals the ones adopted allowed full utilisation of HBS capacity and created additional output capacity via a new Early Bag Store. Terminal 3 transfer baggage went from the worst performance to the best at Heathrow as the project went live. The added bonus was Heathrow received savings as a result of the efficient management of the project.