BAGGAGE reclaim at Birmingham Airport is set to be given a £10.6 revamp as passenger numbers are expected to rise.
This comes as part of the Airport’s £100m refurbishment plans set out in 2016.
So far the funds have been used to create the new state-of-the-art security hall, which opened to passengers last summer.
And now passengers are set to benefit once again when the are arriving at the airport.
The first stage is an additional baggage carousel to complement the existing six within the airport’s north departure baggage make-up area.
Airport bosses say development of the extra carousel will be ready for the busy summer peak and sees an investment of £4.2m for this project.
The second part of development will benefit those arriving in the south arrivals area.
Plans have also been revealed for a full reconfiguration to expand the south immigration area, and the baggage reclaim area, before the summer peak.
This project will provide an increase from five to eight primary control points, that are operated by UK Border Force, and are said to future proof the introduction of E-gates.
Bosses say these additional desks will ensure that UK Border Force has a larger immigration hall to process arriving passengers into Birmingham Airport.
In addition to the extra primary control points for the border, existing baggage carousels will be increased to accommodate more bags.
These changes to the immigration and baggage hall are said to allow an increase in the amount of arriving flights the airport can process in this area to up to eight an hour, at an investment of £6.4m.
Al Titterington, terminal operations director of Birmingham Airport, said: “Birmingham Airport was the airport of choice for over 13m customers to the end of the financial year. With forecasts of up to 13.8million passengers this year, we want to ensure we provide the best possible customer service.
“Last year investment was focused on the outbound customer journey but with these projects the emphasis is providing the right welcome to the region, with increased baggage capacity and additional immigration desks to be resourced and operated by our Border Force colleagues as well as catering for the increased outbound demand.
“By investing in these areas, we can adequately cater for the increase in customers and ensure we are on our way to hit our 13.8m target this year.”
