Houston Airports (HAS) has opened additional sales counters and baggage capacity at Terminal D of George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) as part of a wider improvements project at the Texan airport.
The 12-day project added 25ft (8m) of ticket counter baggage belt and a T-merge where the east and west side of the west ticket belt come together.
Before the extension, the airlines had to manhandle the bags to get them into the system, and often bags would pile up behind the counter. Then, as the passenger numbers thinned out, the airline staff would move the heavy bags.
Modernized sales counters have also been added on the west side of the terminal. All plastic laminate units have been replaced with stainless steels units and Qatar Airways, Emirates and Turkish Airlines will occupy the new counters. An additional tax-free counter and wheelchair services have also been added to the terminal’s offering.
John Allen, project manager at IAH, said, “The foreign flag carriers use this belt and their customers typically travel with a lot of heavy baggage, with a majority on their way to India and to the Middle East. Bags weighing 70 lb (32kg) are pretty typical for many of the passengers.”
The Manhattan Construction Group served as the general contractor on both efforts.
