A new baggage sorting system has come into operation at Leonardo da Vinci airport. Comprised of two control and management systems, BHS (Baggage Handling System) and HBS (Hold Baggage Screening), it is one of the biggest and more complex installations in Europe, able to process in a completely automatic manner both departing baggage and baggage in transit (operations that are normally handled separately).

The coming into operation of the first sorting ring, around 400m in length, will strengthen the efficiency and security of around 20,000 baggage items that depart from or transit through Fiumicino every day. By next November, an additional 7,100 metres of conveyor belt will come into operation, allowing more than 6,000 baggage items to be processed per hour, at peak times. The entire installation is spread over a surface area of 25,000 Sq m.

The new system is based upon an innovative technological infrastructure that takes on the baggage item at the time it is accepted at check-in and allows ADR personnel to constantly follow its trajectory remotely, until it is passed on to the designated airline handler.

Its security control technology is also particularly advanced, based on a series of validation steps, enabling the automatic X-ray analysis of baggage to be combined with visual analysis by an operator to whom the machine provides a high-resolution 3D image. The new equipment, together with the cross-reference control procedure, allows a detailed examination of the baggage without slowing down sorting times.

Once the automatic itinerary is complete, the baggage will reach airline handlers directly in correspondence to 32 stalls, each one of which will be connected to a departing flight.

The introduction of the new baggage sorting system for departure and in transit baggage, together with the new handling setup started last May to process incoming baggage and ramp services, constitutes a further step forward in the direction of passenger service quality, which is keenly pursued by the Aeroporti di Roma management and by its Parent Company Atlantia.