Northwest acquires luggage to test new system

Numbered blocks of wood will soon be replaced by actual luggage as extensive testing of the $52-million baggage-handling system at Detroit Metropolitan Airport's new 97-gate passenger terminal continues.

For several weeks now, wooden blocks with numbers and bar codes have been running through the extensive web of moving belts intended to direct outgoing passenger baggage to the proper aircraft and incoming suitcases and other assorted packages to the proper carousels in the baggage claim area.

Contractor BAE Automated Systems Inc. of Carrollton, Texas, has been working with Northwest Airlines (soon-to-be tenants of the facility) to make sure the system is in full swing when the terminal opens Jan. 20.

The blocks of wood, however, are just a precursor to the more extensive, real-life testing that's about to begin.

That's because Northwest has acquired 6,500 pieces of luggage to simulate the actual conditions the systems will encounter once the new $1.2 billion terminal is in use, said Chuck McCloskey, Northwest's construction director for the midfield terminal project.

The company will put tags on the luggage and run the pieces through the system for at least two months in order to be absolutely sure the system is ready for real luggage when the time comes.

McCloskey said the new system would allow passengers to check their bags in the new 11,500-space parking garage rather than lug them into the airport. He said the high-speed conveyor belt and baggage-sorting system is equipped to route baggage to one of the 18 baggage carousels within 15 minutes, on average.

There will be more than 90 express check-in points within the system that boasts more than five miles of conveyer belt, he said.

There will be 24 curbside check-ins, 10 for e-tickets, two in the garage, and 106 primary ticketing entry points.

McCloskey said the system is used at 75 airports in North America, and is different than the problem-plagued luggage system that BAE installed at Denver International Airport. That system mangled baggage during 1994 tests, delaying the airport's opening.

"This is a tried-and-tested system that works," McCloskey said. "Not only is the system now in place but it's being tested and retested - and it works. This will be a good system for the new terminal complex."

The expansive baggage handling system includes 18 luggage carousels.

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