Glidepath - Airport Baggage Handling Specialists

The May 1st opening of the King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) in Durban, South Africa went according to plan with no major incidents reported – quite a feat for a brand new airport designed to cater for over 7 million passengers per year and serve as a proud gateway to Natal for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  Glidepath’s baggage handling system featuring many functional and security innovations ensured that the first bags through the system were reunited with their owners at their destination as intended. 

Glidepath’s baggage handling system was handed over to the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) in March after extensive testing and commissioning. During April, the training of the Glidepath operations and maintenance staff along with airport and airline staff intensified as the system and the staff were put through their paces and faced many difficult test scenarios to ensure the airport was prepared and well trained for unexpected events.   

Leon Kruger, Glidepath’s on-site Operations and Maintenance Manager stated “The first few days since the opening of the airport have been relatively unproblematic considering the size and scale of the system – thanks in the most part to the rigorous testing and commissioning undertaken by Glidepath staff in the months leading up to the opening”.

Leon celebrated the opening by presenting the first passenger to check a bag through the out-bound screening system with a commemorative, engraved memento.  

Having worked on the KSIA baggage system for two years, Glidepath considers the successful opening of the airport as a huge milestone and validation for all Glidepath staff who’s dedicated hard work and long hours ensured that the system would ‘go live’ flawlessly. Working alongside constructors Ilembe and with close supervision and support provided from ACSA, Glidepath were able to deliver the system well within the required deadline which enabled the exhaustive testing period to take place.  

System Specifications

The baggage system incorporates 72 check-ins, 5 explosive detection machines, 11 automatic tag readers and 30 sort points. Glidepath designed and commissioned the entire control system which includes dual redundant sortation, computers handling airline baggage messages and flight information and producing baggage processed messages for all bags processed through the system.