Siemens appointed Eastern Campus Baggage Integrator at Heathrow Airport

BAA has appointed Siemens, the leading logistics expert for airports and airlines, as the Eastern Campus Baggage Integrator at Heathrow Airport. The scope of the wide portfolio of projects includes the design and installation of Baggage Handling Systems for the new Terminal 2, in addition to specific upgrades and enhancements within the Eastern Campus of Heathrow, which will all be completed by December 2013.

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow, located 22 km west of central London, is the world’s busiest international airport. The baggage handling system in the new Terminal 2 is an integral element within the flagship Eastern Campus Development Programme of Heathrow, a new state-of-the-art terminal with an initial capacity of 20 million passengers in the first phase, with options to provide future terminal capacity.

Terminal 2 will provide the new passenger facing technologies of the baggage handling system including 116 check-in desks and 8 international and 2 domestic arrival carousels. After check-in, departure bags will be conveyed to the existing screening and sortation system located in Terminal 1 by using a new bag collector system, also to be installed by Siemens.

In order to cope with the future demand of Terminal 2, the existing Terminal 1 system will also be upgraded, the throughput capacity improved and both systems integrated into one IT environment. With these measures, the Terminal 2 and Terminal 1 baggage systems will become one fully integrated end-to-end baggage facility.

As part of the ongoing Heathrow airline relocation process, airlines will move from the Central Terminal Area to Terminal 4. In order to facilitate this move, Siemens is responsible for the upgrade of the Terminal 4 baggage handling system through the installation of additional flight build and make-up capacity with additional conveyor lines ensuring that the existing system is able balance the increased bag flow.

Integral to the implementation of a fully integrated Eastern Campus baggage system between Terminals 1, 2 and 4 is the upgrade of the existing tunnel baggage system which connects T1 and T4. With a fully upgraded tunnel baggage system, additional integral functional elements can be introduced such as a shared bag store to allow all passengers within Eastern Campus the ability to check-in up to 24 hours in advance.

Siemens will also replace 20 hold baggage screening machines in Terminal 1 and Terminal 4. This will enable Heathrow to achieve compliance with the new screening legislation stipulating that the next generation of hold baggage screening machines must be utilised. This legislation will come into effect in 2012.

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