Schiphol Group CEO officially unviled a new South baggage hall at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol today, which promises to increase efficency and bag processing for SkyTeam members.

Located on the south side of Departure Hall 1 the new facitiy will accommodate a predicted growth in baggage flows. The new hall, covering a total surface area of 15,000sqm, has been set up to accommodate baggage handling for both departing and transfer passengers.

While handling companies KLM (transavia.com) and Aviapartner are currently using the new hall, in the future it will be used by KLM and its SkyTeam partners. The hall can then process 2,000 transfer bags per hour. The baggage facilities in South will be served by a transport system, currently being installed, that will provide a link to the other baggage handling halls in Schiphol. This link will improve processing speeds for bags that need to be put on a connecting flight.

In the interest of processing baggage more efficiently and reducing the physical demand on workers, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and KLM have developed a new working method for baggage handing. According to this method, a fully automated baggage buffer (that can hold 4,200 bags temporarily) sends the bags to six baggage robots that load the bags into containers or carts. It is expected that 60 percent of the baggage in South will be lifted by these robots.