Miami International Airport’s new baggage handling system, which was unveiled at a press event on October 15, features one of the world’s largest installations of automated guided vehicles.
The new $324-million system, funded in part by a $101.2-million grant from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), doubles the speed and efficiency of baggage screening and delivery for flights at the airport’s Central and South terminals.
In addition to nearly nine miles of conveyor belt and 12 new CTX 9800 explosives detection system machines from Smiths Detection, the upgraded system features 102 mobile inspection tables in an 18,000-square-foot baggage reconciliation area.
The mobile inspection tables autonomously receive bags that require additional screening and deliver them via a guided floor track to 52 TSA inspection stations – eliminating lifting and pulling by TSA officers and increasing the overall speed of the bag screening process.
The facility can screen and transport more than 7,000 bags per hour – double the capacity of the previous two separate systems for concourses F, G, H and J. Eighteen airlines are already using the new system, with 30 more airlines scheduled to make the transition between now and mid-2020.
The new baggage system is part of MIA’s $4- to $5-billion capital improvement program, which will enable MIA to serve a projected 77 million travelers and more than four million tons of freight by the year 2040.
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