Beumer-PCL Awarded GTAA Baggage 2025 Master Agreement

Feb. 1, 2019
PCL Construction has, in a joint venture with BEUMER Group,signed a master agreement with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) for Toronto Pearson International Airport’s Baggage 2025 initiative.

PCL Construction, one of the largest contracting organizations in North America, has, in a joint venture with BEUMER Group, a global leader in baggage-handling systems, signed a master agreement with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) for Toronto Pearson International Airport’s Baggage 2025 initiative.

To accommodate growth and to improve capacity, reliability, and efficiency at the airport, the GTAA is embarking upon an ambitious upgrade to Toronto Pearson’s baggage handling operations, with a state-of-the-art, automated system.

The master agreement includes several design-build work packages that together will revolutionize the way the airport operates, enhancing the passenger experience and ultimately moving Toronto Pearson closer toward the vision of being the best airport in the world. 

“With over a century of helping our partners succeed, our company takes pride in partnering with the best,” said Dave Filipchuk, PCL president and CEO. “Having successfully delivered a number of projects at Toronto Pearson, PCL is excited to continue building our relationship by partnering with Beumer to deliver a best-in-class solution that supports the GTAA in growing Toronto Pearson’s status as an international gateway.”

The modern and fully-automated approach that the Beumer-PCL team will deliver is relatively new in North America but has been broadly implemented in Europe and Asia.

“BEUMER Group values long-term partnerships, and with this contract we are set for a journey that will last for many years with a clear aim to transform Toronto Airport's baggage handling into a leading airport hub operation,” said Dr. Christoph Beumer, chairman and CEO, BEUMER Group. “We have listened to the GTAA's plans and applied our open mind and creativity to lay out the best solution for developing the airport's baggage handling process for the benefit of their passengers and their staff."

“As Toronto Pearson’s passenger traffic continues to see significant growth, the GTAA recognizes the importance of planning to meet the demands of a future airport that could grow to welcome over 80 million annual passengers in the next twenty years,” said Howard Eng, GTAA president and chief executive officer. “With the innovative solutions designed by our partners at BEUMER Group and PCL Construction, the airport will be well equipped to provide efficient, resilient baggage service and ready the system for an estimated 80 million pieces of luggage per year by the mid-2030s.”

As part of the master service agreement, the GTAA will implement Beumer’s automated tote-based baggage transport and sortation system, CrisBag®, at Toronto Pearson. With this solution, each item of baggage remains in the same individually controlled tote and is 100% tracked and traceable at every stage of the baggage-handling process, which is key to complying with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) requirements for US transborder clearance.

Beumer and PCL look forward to working with the GTAA and partners that include Brock Solutions, B+H Architects, Peter Sheffield & Associates, The Mitchell Partnership, and Mulvey & Banani International. Construction on the first four work packages is set to begin at the end of January, with completion scheduled for 2021.