Modeling and Optimization of the Early Baggage Storage at Stockholm Arlanda Airport Terminal 5

Abstract: This report was written in cooperation with Swedavia and aimed to examine and optimize the time before flight departure the chutes should open. Chutes are the last state before the baggage is transported to the plane. Currently, the chutes open two hours before departure. If baggage arrives while its corresponding chute is closed it will go to the Early Baggage System (EBS) where it will stay until two hours before departure. Afterward, the baggage will be transported to its corresponding chute. By reducing the time in the chute, the airport would utilize the EBS more efficiently and make the chutes available to more planes. To examine the resilience of the system it was modeled and simulated in Matlab. The parameters that were used to simulate the model were taken from a data set provided by Swedavia. The conclusion is that there's a possibility for higher utilization of the EBS by lowering the allotted times of chutes per flight and thereby freeing capacity in the makeup sector. This should be further investigated to see the effects of additional processes in the baggage handling system.