Baggage System of Pier 7
As with all new Airports, Pier 7 was designed around its Baggage System. This is extremely important for an airport as baggage is one if not the most important aspect of the airport as it has an impact on both passengers and airlines.
The baggage system of Pier 7 is partially connected to Gatwick's North Terminal Baggage System. It uses the existing check in facilities of the North Terminal and this is made possible by flight reallocation. It also incorporates automated check-in points (e-check-in). Bags are then moved from the North Terminal down the tunnel which leads to Pier 7. In the reverse direction, the bags are delivered to the existing baggage reclaim area of the North Terminal. An illustration of the design can be seen below.
Click here to see the Detailed Engineering Design
The red arrows indicate the flow of baggage from check-in at the North Terminal to Pier 7 area for loading onto the Aircraft. The bags leave the check-in area and move down a chute to the conveyor which is situated inside the tunnel area (flow of direction and bags in red). Then the bags move onto a verti-sort machine which raises the bags from the tunnel height to the ground floor of Pier 7 onto a tilt tray sorter (model 700RF) where a tipping action segregates the bags meant for gates 1,2 and gates 3,4 onto two different carousels for loading onto the aircraft.
In the reverse direction, the arriving bags (indicated with blue arrows), move on another conveyor which is situated on top of the departing baggage conveyors (due to space restriction into the tunnel) directly to the baggage reclaim area of the North Terminal. It is also shown on the design that there is a second vertical sortation unit (model 595 from Fabricom) inside the tunnel area from the North Terminal area. This is used in the case where we there is a lot of arriving baggage. One of the departure baggage conveyors reverses direction and is used as an extra arriving baggage conveyor.
Detailed engineering Plan of Pier 7 Baggage System
