Airport Passenger Handling Services

Efficient trolley management

Each year over four billion passengers travel by aircraft worldwide, either for business or for private reasons and figures will continue to go up in the long term. Nevertheless, the airline industry is also feeling the effects of the current economic climate – passenger figures have fallen during the current financial year. However, the industry association ACI Airports Council International has reported the first signs of stabilisation since the middle of the year. Even so, airports throughout the world are under intense cost pressure when it comes to their daily operations – today more than ever before. Considering this situation, cost cuts are unavoidable today, even in trolley management. Wanzl and ACS prove how to combine necessary savings with improved service. ACS, Airport Cart Service GmbH, has been successfully offering its full service for five years. The joint venture between Wanzl and the Swiss company CGS Consulting Ground Service Ltd., ACS, is one of the first European companies to gain an excellent reputation in the trolley management sector.

Birmingham International Airport

Birmingham International Airport is a current example with almost ten million passengers per year. Each day over forty airlines take off and land at the airport of Britain's second-largest city after London. This spring, BHX airport introduced a new trolley management system liable to charges: since the end of April, over 600 Travel 300 luggage trolleys and 14 Wanzl vending units for the provision of trolleys have been in operation in both terminals. Customers collect the trolleys for a charge of one pound to conveniently transport their luggage in the terminals. For this purpose, all vending units are connected to a central processing unit: this ensures the possibility of monitoring the current trolley stock in the individual units as well as continuous trolley movement tracing in real-time. This feature provides users with a sufficient number of trolleys at the respective vending units by coordinating figures with the current flight schedule and corresponding number of passengers. The cash management of the vending units is also permanently monitored: all cash transactions are transmitted to the central processing unit in real-time by means of the installed intelligent software.

ACS service

This trolley management system enables the airport to benefit from the optimum service of complete luggage trolley handling, ranging from trolley provision to cash transactions and maintenance. The trolley management system is entirely self-financing due to the income generated by trolley use, leaving airports without any costs whatsoever. This service-oriented and simultaneously economical trolley management system is managed by ACS as an external service provider, offering services ranging from project planning, procurement and financing to system implementation, start-up, day-to-day operation and maintenance. ACS core competence areas include:

* Project management to define a logistical overall concept for professional trolley management on airport premises

* Procurement and provision of luggage trolleys and vending units from Wanzl, the internationally acclaimed premium airport supplier of now more than 150 airports

* Turn-key solution and handover

* Deployment of management staff and specialists for analysis, management, service and maintenance of the trolley management system in daily operation.

This type of service made it possible for the English ACS subsidiary ACS Airport Cart Service Ltd. to sign a five-year contract with Birmingham International Airport.

Additional ACS services: Luggage & valet service and newspaper logistics

The lost property offices, luggage storage facilities (hourly and long-term) and a porter service inside the airport for individuals or groups are among the additional services that ACS offers. Passengers with restricted mobility benefit from the PRM service, accompanying them from check-in to the aircraft cabin. Passengers in the vehicle zone of the terminal are also encouraged to take advantage of the ACS valet service: your vehicle is safely parked while you are away and is ready to set off in the terminal zone as soon as you arrive. There is even the possibility of having your vehicle cleaned and valeted in your absence. The ACS service module for newspaper logistics also promises passengers additional comfort: in this module, ACS takes care of selecting and procuring newspapers and magazines that are made available to passengers free of charge at the departure gates.