Aircraft lined at up Schophol Airport (AMS) in Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS) is the 5th largest airport in Europe and the 15th largest in the world. Already the airport is busy and they only expect it get busier. The problem is there isn’t a whole lot more room to expand the airport and one of the biggest challenges is handling all the luggage. Since they can’t grow bigger, they have had to grown smarter. The airport has been working with IBM to create a futuristic way to handle bags.
The system is housed at the new South Baggage Hall where they hope to increase bag capacity by 40% before 2018. The new system is important, ’œto create an efficient, reliable and fast baggage handling process,’ said Mark Lakerveld, Senior Manager Baggage at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
No matter where your bag might be in the 13 miles of conveyor system or 4,000 bag positions, the new system can track exactly where it is at. The new baggage operation has 36 cranes and 60% will be handled by robots (yes, robots). After you check in, your bag will be placed into the bag storage. Then a robot will take your bag when needed and place it on the conveyor belt, reducing overload in the system. The new luggage process is connected to real-time flight information, meaning your bag will only be pulled when your plane is ready for it.
Is this the future of airport baggage systems? Possibly. When asked if we might be seeing this system at other airports, IBM spokesperson stated, “There are a couple of similar efforts that are happening internationally that can’t be named specifically. This example is indicative of what is beginning to happen and we will see more of in airports across the world — focusing on being smarter about how they utilize the space that they have.”
Although great on paper, let’s how this is not a repeat of Denver International Airport (DEN) attempted at a similar high-tech airport luggage system in the early 1990s. Let’s hope that Schiphol has a little better luck.
Check out this video from IBM on how the system works.
Hello? Is anyone there?! (yea, I know this is not a shot of DCA, but let's pretend)
Being able to talk to the tower when you want to land at a large airport, just miles away from the nation’s capital, is a good thing. Not being able to talk to traffic control when two airliners are trying to land is not.
Early Wednesday morning, a United Airlines and an American Airlines flight were unable to reach the control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington DC. After the American flight aborted their landing and circled the airport, both landed while talking to a regional tower and announcing their actions to any other aircraft that might be in the area.
There was only one controller on duty and federal investigators are seeing if that controller might have fallen asleep. Since this happened between midnight and 1am, there wasn’t much traffic, but it is still an unsafe situation. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has asked the FAA to require two controllers be on duty at DCA in the future.
To learn more and get quotes from an airline pilot, United Airlines, the FAA and others, check out my story on AOL Travel News.
Heck yes! DJ'n at 35,000 feet on KLM's new Amsterdam to Miami flight.
It takes something big to turn down an offer to fly on a party plane from Amsterdam to Miami on KLM. I was invited to KLM’s party flight, but unfortunately had to turn it down to cover the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental’s first flight.
Luckily Shashank Nigam, who runs the site Simpliflying.com, was on the flight and able to share all the excitement. “The KLM flight was quite exciting, and entertaining, to say the least,” Nigam told me over email. “It was the first time I was in a plane that felt more like a club, since everyone was grooving to the music being played by the Dutch DJs. Probably the most happening 10 hours I’ve spent in the air.”
The passengers were no ordinary folks. Sure there were quite a few DJ’s to offer block-rocking-beats, but also passengers who won KLM’s Fly2Miami social media competition. And actually the power of social media made KLM change the first flight.
Originally KLM planned to fly on March 27th, but a DJ and film maker explained that would be too late for participating in spring break events in Miami. KLM challenge them to fill the plane and they would make it happen.
One beautiful tri-hole. A KLM MD-11.
They started a website and social media campaign to get folks to get 150 people to sign up and only had seven days to do it. Luckily for them, it only took five hours to fill the plane and KLM changed the date to March 21st. Now that is awesome.
Well for social media it is awesome, for me it meant I couldn’t go. Although parting at 35,000 feet is pretty slick, I am more upset that the aircraft used on the flight was an MD-11 and I missed out flying on it. KLM is the only airline offering scheduled passenger service using the MD-11. For an airline nerd, this is awesome. KLM flies a fleet of 10 passenger versions and seven cargo versions of the MD-11 aircraft. This is a small percentage of their over 200 aircraft strong fleet.
KLM will now offer scheduled service from Amsterdam four days per week and is their 65th international destination.
MORE GOODIES:
* Video of Water canon salute
* Video of the DJ’s in action at 35,000 feet
* KLM’s blog about the event
Images: DJ from KLM, MD-11 from caribb
Delta Air Lines MD-90
A little less than two weeks ago I took a look at Delta buying nine MD-90s from Japan Air Lines. Well, Dan Webb over on his blog Things in the Sky decided to take it to the next level and really dive into the MD-90 and I think it is very much worth sharing. Check out his story: Random Thoughts on Delta and the MD-90.
Lufthansa's first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental at Paine Field on March 21, 2011. Photo by Lee Karas. Click for larger.
The very first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental got a lot of great attention this Sunday, flying for the first time. However, I think some attention should go to the first 747-8I to be delivered to an airline.
The second Intercontinental (RC022) will be the first to go to an airline: Lufthansa Airlines and was caught out at Paine Field. Lufthansa’s first 747-8I came out of the paint hangar on Monday March 21st. She is painted with a gray belly and blue tail.
I am in process of finding out when the titles and logo will be put on the 747-8I. Not having them present makes me question if there might be some special livery or a new, updated livery for Lufthansa. Until I find out… let the rumors fly.
A huge thank you to Lee Karas for taking this photo and letting me share it.
