A consortium of automated baggage handling specialists, BEUMER Group and ALSTEF, has been awarded a contract by the owner and operator of Charles de Gaulle Airport, Aéroports de Paris (ADP), for a baggage handling system to handle check-in bags from the Airport's existing Terminal 2E to Satellite 3 (S3). This satellite provides additional airbridges for large-capacity airliners, including the Airbus A380.
The contract will provide an automated baggage handling system in Satellite 3, which previously used the systems in Terminals 2E and 2F to handle check-in and baggage handling.
The decision to award the contract to the BEUMER Group and Alstef consortium was the result of an analysis of competing tenders based on technical and financial criteria. A key factor in the decision was the robustness of the baggage handling system that will allow ADP to realise operational goals in line with the predicted growth figures.
Both BEUMER Group and ALSTEF share a long history of cooperation and partnership with the airport. BEUMER Group company, Crisplant, has supplied tilt-tray sorting systems to the airport since 1993 whilst ALSTEF’s partnership with Aéroports de Paris at CDG and Orly Airports began in 1997.
The consortium’s new baggage handling system will connect six existing check-in islands to a new Crisplant CrisBag® system, with a capacity of 3200 bags/hour, and to five integrated Standard 3 screening machines. ALSTEF will supply and install 500 metres of conveyors, 12 make-up laterals and 6 make-up carousels.
“From 2018, this new BHS will allow Air France and SkyTeam partners to improve sorting efficiency and reduce the delay for bags checked in at Terminal 2E. The additional equipment to collect and sort connecting baggage will be covered in a new call for tenders in 2016,” explains Nadine Vennat, at Aéroports de Paris.
The combination of high-level controls for the baggage handling system, with SAC and SCADA systems, and the low-level controls, will provide Charles de Gaulle Airport with comprehensive management of the entire baggage handling system process. The high-level controls will also feature a web-based user interface to enable remote control of the baggage handling system from a tablet device. In addition, the integration of RFID scanning of bag tags in the new baggage handling system will ensure that Aéroports de Paris remains at the forefront of airport technology. RFID baggage labels have been shown to minimise the number of mishandled bags and have been trialled by Aéroports de Paris since 2013 with the installation of RFID scanners by Air France and KLM.
“The new system will provide the tracking reliability and system availability needed by one of the world’s largest airports due to the inherent flexibility of the CrisBag system,” explains Klaus Schäfer, Managing Director of Crisplant a/s.
"ALSTEF conveyors have been approved and integrated in Paris CDG airport for many years,” adds Pierre Marol, President and CEO of ALSTEF. “A team of ALSTEF employees has also been working on-site since 2004, which has provided insights into the operational requirements of this major European hub.”
The new system is scheduled to begin operation in the summer of 2018. The Airport’s trust in both consortium partners is reflected in a 40-month maintenance contract under which BEUMER Group and ALSTEF will continue to maintain and optimise the system so that CDG Airport can maintain peak operating efficiency.
