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| On a busy day, more than 180,000 passengers pass through Frankfurt Airport. |
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| At check-in the suitcase's long way to the plane begins |
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| Baggage tag with barcode |
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| Frankfurt's baggage handling system is currently the largest in the world. |
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The journey of a suitcase
From check-in to baggage claim
Frankfurt Airport is Germany's largest airport and one of the major hubs of international air transportation. Each year, more than 52 million passengers depart from and arrive in Frankfurt. More than half of them are in transit, connecting from one flight to another. This presents quite a challenge for baggage handling: For departing passengers suitcases have to be transported from the check-in counter to the plane, for transit passengers they have to be transferred from one plane to another, and for arriving passengers they have to be taken from the plane to the baggage claim. On busy days, more than 200,000 suitcases, bags and backpacks need to be handled!
The long route from check-in to plane
Most passengers have no idea how far their suitcases have traveled already by the time they are loaded in the plane's cargo area. At check-in, the employee at the counter places a barcoded baggage tag on each suitcase. The suitcase is then lifted onto a conveyor belt and begins its long journey to the plane. It makes its way through a giant baggage handling system with various stations where it is checked carefully.
The baggage handling system: a roller coaster of conveyor belts
From the check-in counter, baggage is transported on conveyor belts to a security checkpoint. There it is x-rayed to see if it contains items that are not allowed. Then it begins its long journey through the baggage handling system, which in Frankfurt is more than 70 km (45 miles) in length. This system allows a transfer time from one flight to another within 45 minutes. The baggage handling system consists of 6,000 belt conveyors, 6,700 roller conveyors, 2,420 curves and 650 decoders. These decoders read the barcode on the baggage tags to identify a suitcase and route it onto the correct conveyor.
Frankfurt Airport's baggage handling system is currently the largest of its kind in the world. It is in use 23 hours a day. It is idle for that one hour at night when there is no air traffic and resumes operation at 3:00 a.m. The baggage handling system is an all-important cog in the machinery of Frankfurt Airport.
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