ITWire

Passengers on Jetstar’s domestic flights are the first to experience the project and Roel Hellemons, General Manager Strategic Planning and Development at Brisbane Airport Corporation says the new system will later be expanded to include other airlines flying both domestic and international routes.

Hellemons says the new system allows passengers to drop off their bags in less than 25 seconds.

“Peak times are already busy and will only become busier so, we are committed to using the best technology to improve operations, enhance the passenger experience and to make optimum use of the space we have available.

“This initial phase of self-bag drop deployed by SITA and BCS is a perfect example of this with the new self-service bag drop process taking less than 25 seconds per bag.”

According to Hellemons, the 2011/12 financial year was another record year for Brisbane Airport with more than 21 million passengers travelling through the terminals, and he said the SITRA solution delivered space efficiency to maximise the number of baggage injection points. “These initial results are very promising and we look forward to SITA’s common-use capability and including other airlines in this project.”

SITA is working with baggage handling system specialist, BCS Group, to install and manage the first-phase of the new baggage-drop system.

SITA President Asia Pacific, Ilya Gutlin, said passengers were requesting self-service but, according to the latest SITA Passenger Self-Service Survey, close to half of those checking in at desks did so because of the need to check in a bag. “The same survey shows that 65 per cent of passengers are interested in self-service bag drop. We at SITA see both airlines and airports responding to this demand.

“At Brisbane, the airport is taking the lead and that is why we are working with the team at BAC to try out a common-use solution which will handle multiple airlines.

“The results to date at Brisbane are very encouraging with bag drop taking just 25 seconds. This compares very favourably to installations at other airports which have been reported as taking considerably longer. In addition to this fast processing, self-service bag drop devices are always open and so they can 'eat the peaks' while airline personnel focus on service and support,” Gutlin said.

Gutlin said the initial phase of the SITA-BCS self-bag drop project would continue at Brisbane Airport over the next few months at which time its full common-use functionality would be implemented.