Denver International Airport (DEN) in Colorado has completed Phase 1 of its Great Hall Project, which features 86 new self-bag-drop (SBD) systems.
With over 73 million passengers expected to travel through DEN in 2022, the 86 SBD systems are intended to increase the airport’s flexibility at check-in and meet the growth in demand. The SBDs have been developed by Materna IPS to be user friendly and capable of checking in oversized luggage like skis and snowboards. The hybrid SBDs are also equipped with counters so they can be operated by airline staff when needed.
The systems went live with Southwest Airlines in DEN’s newly renovated Level 6 early in November 2021, followed by United Airlines a week later. Within the first two weeks, over 35,000 bags were processed with the integrated automatic baggage handling system. The systems decreased the average passenger transaction time at DEN by nearly 50% during this period.
In addition to the hardware solution, Southwest Airlines will be using the Materna IPS SBD application to operate the new automated baggage handling process. The manufacturer will also be responsible for hosting the self-bag-drop system within the AWS cloud, where the availability and functionality of the SBD units are constantly monitored.
