July-August_2021 - 16

BAGGAGE SYSTEMS
He said there's a misconception even
in the industry that these systems are far
more expensive, but Beumer has been
building these systems for 20 years
throughout the world.
Delaney said airports looking at
installing an ICS system needs to work
with their consultants and let them
know they're considering this when
doing master planning so it allows
architects and general contractors to
consider new technology in the future.
You should also consider designers who
are familiar with how ICS systems work
as well.
" We can generally fit into similar
spaces as existing in traditional systems,
room when the building footprint was
being determined. This enabled the
structure of the building to adjust to the
bag system as needed and with minimal
impacts. This early collaboration
allowed for the use of column imbeds
to support
the bag system. So all
attachments were integrated and visual
site lines improved over suspending the
system with countless treaded rods.
" Technology is great but only if it
has been proven in industry to work, "
he said. " R&D in live operations is not
fun and should not be pursued. So when
evaluating a technology to improve
airport operations, need to ensure
implementing it will only be a value
add and not detract daily operations. "
The Pandemic Impact
on Baggage Handling
There are several competing demands
right now, coming out of the pandemic.
Larry Studdiford, president, Studdiford
Technical Solutions LLC, said a number
of major airport infrastructure projects
were put on hold last year that are now
coming back with a sense of urgency
due to the quicker-than-expected return
to pre-pandemic levels. Some airports
are already back to 2019 levels in terms
of peak bag demands, and in some cases,
already exceeding those numbers.
Those airports that did not take
The Individual Carrier System (ICS)
enables 100 percent track and trace
as each bag remains in the same tote
throughout the baggage handling and
integrated security screening process.
BEUMER GROUP
but you want to think about this upfront
in your plans, " he said. " It's not a
lighting system or HVAC system where
it's just standard off the shelf commodity,
it's a new technology and you just sort
of have to consider it fairly early on
in the process. When you start your
programming phase or initial planning. "
McCarthy said airports looking
at an ICS system should begin with
the design build core subs as early in
the process as possible. Terminal 1
benefited from having Beumer in the
advantage of the downtime for necessary
maintenance upgrades are finding
themselves caught between the need
to fix those portions of the baggage
handling system that require it and the
need to expand for added capacity.
Add to that the resulting change
in such factors as Bags Per Passenger
due not only to the leisure/business
mix but also to the checked bag fee
waivers by some airlines and you have
an unanticipated rise in capacity demand.
" Another interesting result of the
pandemic that we're seeing is a rapid
expansion of smaller markets as airlines
increase their flight frequencies to more
remote areas, " Studdiford said. " We are
seeing several airports advancing master
plans for expansion due to the need to
support
their growing populations
due to teleworking. If you follow the
housing market at all, you will see
vacation homes in places like beach
communities and adjacent to national
16 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / JULY/AUGUST 2021
parks go through the roof. The adjacent
airports are finding themselves in a
position of rapid expansion to support
this, and in many cases the resulting
BHS is going to be more sophisticated
than they are used to due to evolving
technology. "
The pandemic is having less
impact on baggage handling system
investment than many expected. The
idea of sanitizing bags for COVID-19
contamination began to get traction
last summer, but Studdiford said as the
data continued to mature, the perceived
benefit began to diminish. He said
he's not aware of a single airport in
the U.S. that is investing in automated
sanitization tunnels for inbound or
outbound baggage, other than the
ones integrated at the checkpoints for
cleaning of the carry-on item bins.
He suggested what airports should
think about is the process for claiming
bags in the arrivals hall and the
proximity of people standing around
the claim carousel waiting for their bags.
" I think there is an opportunity
here for expanding the level of service
and improving customer satisfaction
by providing more square feet per
passenger, automated notifications
of when one's bag is arriving at the
carousel or investigating on-demand bag
retrieval, " Studdiford said. " However,
these all take terminal space, which is
always at a premium. "
A Big Move on
Technology
Software providers are building new
innovations to enhance baggage
handling systems without massive
construction costs.
Khaled Nabli, who heads
Digital Aviation at Siemens
Logistics, said the pandemic
created volatility challenges
in airports. The need to
scale up and scale down
passenger volumes and
baggage handling is
a major challenge as
the industry continues
to recover from the
pandemic.
Airports are also
faced with limited
investment possibilities
Khaled Nabli,
Head of Digital
Aviation,
Siemens Logistics
SIEMENS LOGISTICS
July-August_2021

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