Baggage Handling The beggage handling system at the new Athens International Airport is a fully automated state-of-the-art system, comprising 144 check-in desks, 120 flight make-up chutes and 11 reclaim racetracks, The eystem cepacity hes been tested and 8,400 departing bags per hour can be handled. Every bag is security ‘screened by in-ine screening equip ment as it travels through the system. Thus the new airport meets the Euro: pean Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) resolution for 100% HBS (hold baggage screening). The HBS equip: ment includes the new mode! CTX 2000 computed tomography screening machine and the airport is the frst in Europe to have these advanced machines. FAG EPE secondeo, Dr. W. Hill, heads the Baggage Handling System & Services section. Under his direction and supervision, FAG EPE secondoo, Mr. M. Rumpf and an AIA member of the section wrote very detailed pro- cedure documents defining how AIA staff should act and react in all bag. gage handing operational situations. All the procedures for the interfaces with other departments, with the thied party handing companies and with State authorities are also clearly de- fined in the documents. A total of 18 man-months were spent writing sixty- ‘one SOP documents containing nine hundred pages. These documents have been a tremendous help in the training of AIA staff and in helping the {ground handling companies to under- stand the systems and procedures. The training of over sixty AIA staff in how to operate the new baggage handling system and understanding the SOPs was a substantial task un- dertaken by FAG EPE. Secondee, Mr. Rumpt, played a big partin training the staff in the procedures and in bag- ‘gage handiing generally. The long training period has paid dividends: the section's personnel was able to operate the sysiem and follow proce. dures competently from day 1 of the EMORAT trials, Throughout the construction period the baggage handling working group chaired by Dr. Hill looked at all areas of baggage handling and seraening in dotail including the design of the facil ities and eystems, construction prog ress, testing, training, safety, mainte. ‘nance and trials. The FAG EPE secon dees played an important role in defin: ing requirements and also in obtain ing information from the contractor Additionally, the FAG EPE secondees reviewed the design and made sever- alimportant improvements. Even small details, such as the roadway markings and signs in the baggage halls, were produced under the guid ance of the FAG EPE socondees. Dr, Hill also identified improvements inthe design of the bar-code auto- ‘matic scanner array which will be implemented before the airport opens. FAG EPE secondee, Dr. Hill, reque- sted the contractor to formulate @ functional testing program for the baggage handling system and ox. plained to the contractor the level of testing expected. He undertook the responsibilty for the monitoring and. reporting of this program of tests, as sisted by the Airport Engineering De- partment. Over one hundred and fifty witnessed tests were performed and ‘many utilized a large number of the section's staff. Over eight hundred detailed comments on the tests were produced and were conveyed to the contractor for action duting the in- tensive §-month testing period prior to the start of the EMORAT trials. FAG EPE secondee, Mr. Rumpt, mo: nitored and inspected the installation of over one hundred and twenty CCTV cameras in the two baggagehalls. This system provides compre hensive remote monitoring of the system, allowing quick reaction by the control room operators in the event of a stoppage. Dr. Hil participated in several of the technical division’s progress meetings with the cantractar’s management ‘and he also participated in AIA “taking over” meetings. Furthermore, he participated in the selection of a contractor to provide a simulation model of the passenger terminal complex and the baggage handling system. The resulting three- dimensional sofware model is, 0 Dr. Hill's knowledge, the most com: prehensive airport simulation worl wide to date. The model is flight sche- dule driven and is an operational and planning too! as well as a means for checking the capacity of the terminals and baggage handling system, Dr. Hill also ensured that the model includes transfer in-feed and manual coding lines that will be in stalled in January and February 2001 before the airport opens. Dr. Hill used the model to investigate several areas, including the expected hourly loading on the baggage handling system in the first year of operation. Additionally, Dr. Hill progressed the need for an addtional transfer bag: ‘gage capacity and manual coding capacity. He presented the case to the board of executives using the simulation model. As a result, the additional lines mentioned above willbe installed before the airport Because of questions raised by the Airline Operators Committee about the dimensions of the weighing con- veyors and the volume of oversize baggage, Dr. Hill devised a survey of oversize baggage at the existing Hellinikon Airport in June and July 2000. Over three thousand bags on eighteen international flights were individually sized during check-in and the results, submitted to [ATA and to the Airline Operators Committee, sho- wed that the facilities will handle the expected volume of oversize baggage traffic.