The Queens Courier July 31, 2008 Better baggage handling by British Airways

Save/Print PDF

British Airways now has an expanded and upgraded baggage back operations space - technically known as a baggage make-up room - at John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal Seven.

Aragon Construction, New York City's premiere general contracting and construction management firm, together with architectural firm Graf & Lewent Architects, LLp, served as the construction manager on the project and began working on the 30,000-square-foot renovation in March. The construction was completed in mid-July. Graf & Lewent's design team included Sideris Engineers and conveyer consultants, BNP Associates, Inc.

“As airline traffic has finally returned to pre 9/11 frequency, airlines are grappling with the issues of sustaining the additional passengers and the "necessary baggage screening equipment needed to handle this increased capacity,” explains Howard Graf, Principal of Graf & Lewent, noting that British Airways is at the forefront of the airline industry in resolving these concerns.

To that end, British Airways needed a solution that would increase both the amount of baggage it could handle and screening capacity. Specifically, the task included adding more linear
feet to the baggage carousel, or makeup device, and reconfiguring the space to handle two additional 9,000-pound CTX scanning machines – when the make-up room could not be expanded.