Leonardo will provide the baggage handling system at Malta Airport

Leonardo strengthens its international positioning in the field of airport automation and logistics: Malta International Airport has chosen Leonardo technology to optimise its baggage handling operations. With this project, the company reaches the quota of 50 Mbhs cross belt sorter systems sold.

The acronym stands for Multisort baggage handling system and is the name of a sorting machine (the only one on the market, assures the group) capable of overcoming gradients of up to 15° and height differences of more than 8 metres, as well as an above-average sorting speed (up to 5 bags per second), energy savings and, above all, a high guarantee of baggage care, with a considerable reduction in the risk of damage and loss.

The contract with Malta envisages the supply and installation of a complete system, to be delivered within a tight timeframe set by the airport's top management, as part of the wider terminal expansion project, scheduled for completion by 2028. The new system will allow for the processing of up to 5,000 bags per hour and will make use of an advance baggage receiving and storage system, designed and sized to handle the increased demand, at peak times, and the number of cruise ship passengers, which transit to the port of Malta.

This technology, explains Riccardo Majorana, director of sales & business development of Leonardo's Automation unit, which has its historical headquarters in Genoa, where Mbhs was designed, 'will speed up check-in operations and flight preparation, and reduce waiting times for baggage storage. It will also be fully integrated with airport security systems, including a screening area that will use state-of-the-art screening equipment, fully compliant with European Standard 3. Which ensures that airports are aligned with the most stringent international security requirements'.

With this sale, as mentioned, Leonardo has reached 50 Mbhs sold globally, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, India and the United States. This is, emphasises Giuseppe Ceppodomo, managing director of the Automation business unit, 'an important milestone, the result of a path of concrete and continuous innovation. This technology has helped transform the baggage handling industry and, through the work of our people and constant investment, we have strengthened our competitive advantage'.