Leonardo has signed two new contracts in Europe in the airport logistics sector for a total value of over 100 million euros. The acquisitions concern the renewal of baggage handling systems (Baggage Handling System - BHS), respectively for the Geneva international airport, the second in Switzerland with over 17 million passengers, and for Athens, which, with annual traffic of over 24 million passengers, it has been the reference hub in the country since 2001, both for business and tourism flows.
In Geneva, the new sorting system will completely replace the previous one at the end of 2023 and will gradually enter service to ensure the continuity of airport operations. When fully operational, the new plant, for which Leonardo will be responsible from design to commissioning, will govern all baggage management processes at the airport, both those dedicated to departures and arrivals, with a sorting capacity of over 5.200 baggage at the airport. Now. Baggage will be tracked thanks to automatic tag readers capable of recognizing both barcodes and printed characters. The project includes about 8,5 km of conveyor belts, an Early Baggage System with a capacity of 2.400 bags, the entire control system, which includes EasyAirport - Leonardo's IT solution for managing and controlling the sorting phase ( Sorting Allocation Computer) - and two MBHS® (Multisorter Baggage Handling System) cross-belt sorting machines.
The construction of a new Transit Baggage Facility and the complete renewal and expansion of the baggage handling infrastructure in other airport areas is planned for Athens by 2020. Leonardo is responsible for managing the entire project, from design to integration, as well as for the supply of all systems, both for transporting and sorting baggage, and for the IT infrastructure.
The project will initially see the replacement of the electromechanical and IT components of the North Baggage Hall BHS system. This will allow it to comply with the latest security standards, improve the reliability of the entire system and expand the management capacity of the latter, making it capable of handling over 3.000 bags per hour. Leonardo's solution includes over 5 km of conveyor belts, check-in and carousels, the EasyAirport suite and a 240-meter MBHS® cross-belt sorter. An option to implement the same changes to South Baggage Hall is included in the contract.
Both projects include the integration of 3 Standard X-ray machines.
The two orders confirm Leonardo's international leadership in the sector, as well as the technological value of the MBHS® cross-belt sorter, the state of the art in the field of baggage handling systems. Leonardo's solutions have already been chosen by numerous customers all over the world to meet the needs of both medium-sized structures and large hubs. These include Rome Fiumicino, Paris Orly, Zurich, Lyon, Bale-Mulhouse, Kuwait City and other hubs in the Middle East and Asia.