Gatwick has opened what it says is the world’s largest self-service bag drop zone at the airport’s North Terminal.
The £36 million project took 18 months to complete, and saw 5,000 sqm metres of tiling being laid, 850 metres of baggage and 7,000 metres of cabling belt used, and 23 tonnes of conveyor installed.
The new system increases Gatwick’s peak check-in capacity from 3,000 to 4,350 passengers per hour.
In January 2017 Easyjet will consolidate all of its Gatwick services into the North Terminal, with BA moving to the South Terminal, and Virgin Atlantic switching to the North Terminal (see news February 11).
Other works to be carried out at the North Terminal include:
- “a world-leading new security area with ten lanes”, which will cost £30 million and will halve passenger transit times and enable Gatwick to process 5,000 passengers per hour
- A £10 million refurbishment of the terminal’s arrival area, due to open for the peak summer period
- A further £10 million to upgrade the terminal’s border zone, including 15 recently opened e-gates
- A total of £250 million committed to maintaining and replacing facilities including lifts, escalators and the technology infrastructure
The airport also spent £80 million reconfiguring Pier 5 (see news February 1).
Mark Caswell
