A new vision for the way baggage is processed and handled at airports around the globe garnered the attention of hundreds of attendees at the IATA Ground Handling Conference (IGHC) in Bangkok earlier this spring.
As part of the 30th annual conference, organizers implemented the IGHC Innovator Awards, welcoming businesses to showcase new ideas for the ground handling industry that enhance customer experience through increased quality and safety, simplified processes and modernized systems, or improve competitiveness by optimizing costs, increasing revenues and reducing injuries or damage.
The intelligent baggage handling system developed from Danish company BBHS A/S was selected by IGHC delegates as the inaugural winner over Deolan’s data-platform dedicated to ground operations efficiencies and a virtual reality training program from Qantas.
While accepting the award, Martin Sattrup Christensen, the CEO of BBHS, explained that while the longest part of a piece of luggage’s journey is already mechanized, certain breaks require luggage to be handled manually.
Those are the areas the company seeks to eliminate.
“We strongly believe that we can take the baggage handling industry into the 21st century. And I think the best way to test that was joining this competition,” Christensen says.
The system has been in place at Billund Airport for more than two years, and Christensen says staff and management representing the airport, airlines and handlers are “extremely satisfied there working with the system.”
BBHS’s baggage handling system is 95-percent automated. The system organizes luggage in batches and prioritizes it based on airline requirements to save time and reduce the size of the fleet of carts on the ramp.
What’s more, it utilizes gravity to help load and unload bags to avoid injuries often sustained by ground crew engaged in manual labor while gently handling the bags to reduce damage. In fact, Christensen says in Denmark, where the system is being utilized, mishandled bags have been reduced by more than 50 percent.
The company’s baggage handling system doesn’t tear down existing systems, according to Christensen. Rather, it adds on to and complements current systems, which he says creates advantages for airlines, airports and ground handlers by improving quality, work environment, productivity and profit.
The system uses specially designed carts that are capable of rotating 360 degrees. Additionally, the cart’s shelves are equipped with rollers, allowing bags to roll off gently.
“Bags are moved forward in the carts due to gravity, which is also why we can load and unload carts as quickly as we’re doing,” Christensen says.
He explains upon arrival, baggage can be delivered in less than 10 seconds per cart to the arrival belt.
“We have a much higher cart utilization because we don’t use carts for storage,” Christensen continues. “We only use them to move bags from the baggage hall out to the ramp, and on the way back again.”
Due in part the carts being kept in motion as much as possible, the system can be fitted into nearly any baggage hall or handling system, as BBHS can optimize the use of areas where carts were previously parked to load and unload bags. Because of improved effiency, the amount of carts needed can be greatly reduced.
Additionally, capacity boosters keep bags until they are ready to be loaded. Then when plane is ready, they release the bags onto carts. This process takes five to 10 minutes, according to BBHS.
Baggage can be sorted into six different categories, allowing bags to be traced from drop-off to delivery. Batching also allows the system to release transit bags into the system first, then priority bags and the remainder of the luggage can be released to the reclaim belt. Bags can be marked as unauthorized to load, so they can be removed from the system easily. This is all controlled through an operator interface that assists users with the process.
Other value propositions include less staff needed to operate the system, which offers an aggressive payback; and the possibility for improved insurance premiums because of reduced manual lifting.
In his IGHC presentation, Christensen said 22 million bags go missing annually. Poor baggage handling is the most common source of flight delays. As a result, lost, damaged and mishandled bags cost airlines and the aviation industry billions of dollars in addition to tens of thousands of occupational injuries.
BBHS believes the system can greatly reduce the amount of mishandled bags.
“It delivers a lot of efficiency gains that leads to a better financial outcome,” Christensen says. “It leads to cost savings for airports, airlines and ground handlers by using this system.”
