Melbourne Airport has started work on $340 million upgrade of the baggage handling system to improve reliability and safety in baggage handling operations. Although the current baggage system is good, the chief executive, Lori Argus said that the new improved system will help reduce the number of lost bags.
“"Once the new system is operational, we will be able to track every bag at every moment of the journey from check-in to the aircraft. Bags will be stored in a central holding area before being automatically sent to their flight so we will be able to accept them for check-in much earlier than we currently do, providing passengers and airlines with more flexibility,” added Argus. “Our team will work hard to minimise disruption, but this will be a challenging project because our baggage system is effectively the terminal arteries, so it is a bit like doing open heart surgery while running a marathon."
The domestic activity at Melbourne has crossed the pre-pandemic mark while on the international grounds the airport welcomes seven of the Chinese airlines that were operating pre-COVID, including China Southern, Air China, China Eastern and most recently Hainan Airlines. The airport also receives three carriers from Vietnam, Vietjet, Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways, and Singapore Airlines operates four daily flights between Melbourne and Singapore, including a service using the Airbus A380 super jumbo.