ICM Airport Technics has been awarded a tender by Heathrow Airport Ltd to install Self Service Bag Drop trial units at Heathrow Airport. An off-site trial unit of the system has been installed since the beginning of March 2012. The aim is to demonstrate the system and provide confidence to airlines and their stakeholders as well as Heathrow's operators prior to preparing for the on-site trial units which are scheduled for installation during the second half of 2012.
The off-site trial verifies the Self Service Bag Drop functionality which has been tailored to the requirements of the airport, the trial partner airlines - British Airways and Qantas - and the relevant regulatory bodies and includes common use capabilities and the ability to process passengers for international flights as well as domestic passengers.
And this is how the Auto Bag Drop system works: As a passenger wishes to check-in his baggage, a scan of the boarding card displays the menu of the respective airline on a touch screen. After checking the boarding details, the system invites passengers to place their luggage on the conveyor belt, where a check of the bag size and weight is carried out. Should the bag exceed the permissible luggage limit, the system presents the passenger with the option of either repacking or paying an additional charge, with the surcharge also calculated and charged directly at the self-service terminal. If necessary, the system will also print out a "heavy" sticker with which to label the excess baggage. Finally, the conveyor belt then transports the bag to the airport's internal baggage handling facility.
Since 2010 ICM delivered a successful roll-out of 80 Auto Bag Drop systems for Qantas Airlines in 6 airports across Australia. By now more than seven million bags have been successfully injected using the Auto Bag Drops. ICM has been demonstrating the Auto Bag Drop at Stand # 1040 at the Passenger Terminal Conference and Expo 2012 in Vienna, Austria.
In Early 2009 Qantas and Ashcote were involved in discussions about
how to increase the efficiency of the current check‐in model and
decrease passenger queuing. The outcome of these discussions was to
implement a self check‐in system that allowed passengers to complete the
check‐in process unassisted or partially assisted.
This initial idea was forged from some initial movement around the
world to adopt a self‐service bag drop, however at the time there was
none that truly offered a clean, userfriendly passenger experience.
Following a number of initial discussions and an initial feasibility
assessments, Qantas and Ashcote embarked on what is likely one of the
most ambitious development projects undertaken by any airline in the
world: Next Generation Check‐in & Auto Bag Drop.
Ashcote were involved in this project from the initial inception of
the project, through the feasibility studies, research & development
and concept design, through the tender and award of the development
contract, throughout the detailed design and prototyping, and then
throughout the entire delivery phase across the country. Given the
ultimate success of the project for Qantas, it is easy to understand how
proud we are of our involvement in all facets of this projects
delivery.
During the project Ashcote were responsible for:
- Inception of the projectFeasibility Studies
- Research and development of the idea
- Operational Impact Analysis
- Program Development
- Airport Check-in Process Design
- Concept Design
- Design Specification
- Tender of development contract
- Managing the successful tenderer’s research, development and prototyping
- Testing and sign-off of prototype
- Development of the nation-wide rollout strategy
- Design and Specification of BHS developments required to support the NGCI product at all Qantas Ports
- Managing the BHS development at all Qantas ports including design and risk workshops, construction phase and sign-off
- Nationwide project close-out
