Barcelona El Prat Airport

New BHS for Terminal 1 accommodates future growth

The Master Plan for Barcelona Airport included the construction of a new terminal (Terminal 1) located between de existing runways and the new parallel one. This new terminal was designed by Ricardo Bofill, and its main aim is to adapt to the annual growth in air traffic. In this way, the airport is able to grow and eventually handle 55 million passengers per year.

The baggage handling system is based on DCV technology (TUBTRAX) for the transportation and sortation of departing baggage from check-in desks and transfer inductions to 20 make-up carousels of the tilted TRIPLANAR type. In addition to the 140 desks in the departure hall, and 14 check-in desks in the car park there are also input points of baggage checked-in at the city’s train station and the cruise terminal. Transfer baggage is introduced on 6 transfer quays.

A multi-level in-tub Hold Baggage Screening process is integrated in the system. Early baggage is temporarily stored in an energy-efficient BAGSTORE, served by stacker cranes, allowing individual access to each bag. Sortation takes place by means of two tilt-tray sorters as well as a high-speed TUBTRAX sorter to which time critical baggage is conveyed at a speed of 6 m/s. Arrival baggage is delivered to 14 TRIPLANAR carousels via multiple infeeds.

The baggage handling system is also prepared for a potential future connection with one or more remote satellites. The system has the highest industry safety level for both passengers and operational staff.