Airport Baggage Handling Systems, Sorting and RFID integration

Key Facts:

• Major upgrade of high-level controls for central part of the baggage handling system whilst the airport maintains normal operation
• New controls ensure fail-safe baggage handling controls and high availability for a world-class hub
• Future-safe system supports expected increases in passenger numbers

Crisplant – part of BEUMER Group and a leading global supplier of automated baggage handling systems – announces the completion of the first stage of a phased upgrade and modernisation of Copenhagen Airport's high-level controls for the central part of their Crisplant baggage handling system. The software upgrade follows the successful upgrade of the hardware platform for high-level controls and the upgrade was carried out whilst the airport and the baggage handling system continued normal operation, with no disruption to passengers, airlines and handlers.

The upgrade process was developed through close cooperation between Copenhagen Airport and Crisplant. This combined Crisplant’s expertise and experience in completing in-service upgrades, with Copenhagen Airport’s clear and specific business objectives for the upgrade.

Kristian Durhuss, Chief Operating Officer at Copenhagen Airports comments, “The first phase has been successfully completed in time for this summer's peak period and phase two is scheduled for completion after the summer, leaving Copenhagen Airport with a fully upgraded and redundant system which can cope with the ever-growing passenger numbers. The completion of Phase One of the upgrade will deliver substantial increases in operational reliability in addition to higher efficiency.”

The upgrade comprises a multiple-terminal control system to ensure efficient baggage handling and optimum baggage transfer times, in addition to supporting future airport expansions to meet a predicted growth in passenger numbers.

Klaus Schäfer, Managing Director, Crisplant, explains, “This upgrade is the latest project in Crisplant’s 25-year relationship with Copenhagen Airport, during which Crisplant’s advanced baggage handling systems have been central to Copenhagen’s strategy to develop as a world-class hub for air traffic. The latest upgrade to the high-level controls will secure the efficiency and reliability of the baggage handling system well into the future.”

In recent years Crisplant has also carried out in-service upgrades to high-level controls in other major hubs, such as Johannesburg’s O. R. Tambo Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China.

About Copenhagen Airport
Passenger numbers passing through Copenhagen Airport reached a record high of 22.7 million in 2011.  The airport’s World-Class Hub strategy aims to drive continued growth by attracting new routes against the background of a very competitive market.

The upgrade to Copenhagen Airport’s baggage handling control system improves the airport’s facilities, logistics and operational efficiencies, making it easier for passengers and airlines to use Copenhagen Airport as Denmark's gateway to growth and as the main hub for Northern Europe.

The hub expansion of the airport began in 1982 with the intention of building Europe’s preferred transit airport. By 1998 a number of important construction projects had been completed: a pier connecting the domestic and international terminals; a new arrivals hall; new state-of-the-art baggage handling facilities; an underground railway station with two large underground parking facilities; and a spacious and impressive Terminal 3. The first stage of the new Pier D was completed in the spring of 1999.  Copenhagen Airport also expanded the baggage reclaim area, prior to the peak summer season in 2008, to further improve passenger satisfaction with the airport.

Crisplant and Copenhagen Airport
Crisplant installed Copenhagen Airport’s first automated baggage sortation system in 1988, and has been working with the airport to ensure that the baggage handling system is equipped with each new development in baggage handling technology. In addition to providing a service help-line since 1997, Crisplant has also designed and installed the baggage handling systems for Terminals 2 and 3.

Note to Editors:
The BEUMER Group is an international leader in the manufacture of intralogistics systems for conveying, loading, palletising, packaging, sortation and distribution. Together with Crisplant a/s and Enexco Teknologies India Limited, the BEUMER Group employs about 3,200 people worldwide, and achieves an annual turnover of about 500 million EUR. With its subsidiaries and sales agencies, the BEUMER Group serves customers around the globe, across a wide range of industries. For further information visit: www.beumergroup.com.