London Gatwick Airport has opened the world’s largest self-service bag drop zone as part of its transformation of the North Terminal. The £36 million (€45m) project creates a new state-of-the-art check-in floor and takes Gatwick a step closer to its ambition to eliminate queues.
Investment in faster technology is key to the airport’s growth strategy, and this latest project will increase peak check-in capacity from 3,000 to 4,350 passengers per hour.
Sophie Dekkers, UK Director, easyJet, and Guy Stephenson, Chief Commercial Officer, Gatwick Airport, cut the ribbon to officially open the new self-service bag drop area in the airport’s North Terminal.
“As we prepare for the busiest summer the airport has ever had, the full opening of this new departure level will improve the experience our passengers have at Gatwick,” explains Guy Stephenson, Chief Commercial Officer, Gatwick Airport. “This state-of-the-art facility is designed to eliminate queues by allowing passengers to check-in, drop off their bag and be on their way in less than two minutes. The continued investment we are making to transform the airport will help us to grow while we wait for a Government decision on a new runway.”
Phase One of the self-service bag drop zone opened last October, with the final phase now complete and the full space open for passengers. Gatwick’s biggest airline easyJet is located in the new area and now has the space to move all its South Terminal flights to the North Terminal, creating a much simpler experience for passengers. The consolidation will happen in January 2017, when British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will also switch their operations, with British Airways moving South and Virgin Atlantic moving North.
“As our largest base, Gatwick is of huge importance to easyJet both strategically and for the millions of our passengers who travel through the airport every year,” comments Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s UK Director. “We recognise that our customers’ airport experience is a crucial part of their overall journey and so we are delighted to have opened this new area for our customers flying from London Gatwick. Our vision is for Gatwick to be both our biggest and best airport and this opening enables us to further deliver on our ambition to make travel easy and affordable for all of our customers.”
Self-service bag drop was originally trialled in the South Terminal and demonstrated that queuing times can be significantly shortened by allowing passengers to take charge of their own journey through the airport. The technology enables passengers who have checked in online to take their bags straight to a machine upon arrival at the airport, where they can print their luggage tag, apply it to their bag and load it straight onto Gatwick’s state-of-the-art baggage sorting system. Gatwick now has 60 check-in points in total, with 48 of these being self-service bag drop units. This means the check-in process can be completed in less than two minutes.
London Gatwick Airport has opened the world’s largest self-service bag drop zone in its North Terminal following an 18-month construction programme. It increases peak check-in capacity from 3,000 to 4,350 passengers per hour.
Having invested £36 million (€45m) in creating the new check-in floor, other aspects of the North Terminal development programme will include £30 million (€38m) invested to create a new security area with 10 lanes. Five lanes are already open, with the remaining five to be opened this summer. It is anticipated that the investment will halve passenger transit times and enable Gatwick to process 5,000 passengers per hour. Meanwhile, the £10 million (€12.5m) refurbishment of the North Terminal arrival area will open in time for the peak summer season; a further £10 million (€12.5m) is being spent upgrading the North Terminal border zone, providing more space, new technologies and 15 recently-opened state-of-the-art e-gates; and £250 million (€317m) is committed to maintaining and replacing facilities including lifts, escalators and the technology infrastructure, while £80 million (€100m) was invested to reconfigure Pier 5.
After the summer, the project moves to the departure lounge, where £21 million (€27m) will be invested to create a world-class new space in the North Terminal.
