Two major projects and a renewed service contract testify to the successful cooperation between Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics and London Gatwick airport. Completed in May 2016, the project to upgrade check-in facilities operating at London Gatwick’s South Terminal included the refurbishment of existing baggage handling controls technology and the supply and the replacement of new baggage conveyors and mechanical equipment.
According to Iain McLeod, Project Manager (Baggage) at London Gatwick, Siemens has successfully demonstrated expertise in this area of the operation as London Gatwick continues to ensure the baggage handling infrastructure keeps pace with the increasing demands from future growth of passengers and baggage in some of the busiest areas of the terminal.
‘London Gatwick is the busiest single runway airport in the world and Siemens is supplying the very latest equipment to provide the terminal with reliability and efficiency for the coming years. London Gatwick relied on the team at Siemens to carry out this detailed work ahead of the busy summer season to help plan for further improvements later in the year’, he said.
Adam Hill, Programme Manager of Baggage at London Gatwick, said: 'The timely completion of the works by Siemens has enabled London Gatwick to enhance check-in reliability and maintainability with the latest equipment installed throughout the South Terminal Check-in areas. This has improved the overall performance and efficiency of the baggage handling operations, benefiting both travellers and airlines'.
More recently, a second project to improve functionality of the baggage handling system operating at London Gatwick’s North Terminal has also been awarded to Siemens.The project includes replacing Emergency-Stop modules and upgrading existing E-stop channels to reduce downtime when any one device is operated or failed and maintain up to 75% baggage throughput of the North Terminal system.
Iain McLeod said: ‘Siemens is supplying the very latest equipment to dramatically reduce the impact of stoppages and emergencies on the throughput of the baggage system and in turn improve the overall throughput performance and efficiency of the baggage handling operations operating at the North Terminal‘.
London Gatwick also recently renewed a service contract with Siemens to provide continued engineering support for the operation of the baggage handling systems at both the South and North Terminals for a further 12 months with an option to extend the contract.
London Gatwick’s South Terminal comprises eight concourse check-in zones and more than 180 check-in desks linked to the baggage electrical and controls system running the automatic Hold Baggage Screening (HBS) operation. In total, the South Terminal covers 160,000 square metres.
London Gatwick’s North Terminal comprises concourse check-in zones and check-in desks linked to the baggage electrical and controls system running the automatic Hold Baggage Screening (HBS) operation. In total, the North Terminal covers 98,000 square metres with retail facilities occupying just over 12,000 square metres and London Gatwick serves around 38 million passengers a year flying to around 200 different destinations.
