Around 53 million pieces of luggage are processed every year in Terminal 5, thanks to 30 miles of baggage conveyors and 2.8 miles of tunnels.
Heathrow is responsible for providing and operating a very sophisticated mechanical baggage system which transports, security screens and sorts checked-in passenger bags. On a typical day, our Team Heathrow baggage colleagues handle 6.5 tonnes in baggage and are ready to process an astonishing 11,500 bags every hour across conveyor belts longer than the length of 40 of our runways. In 2018, we processed 37 million departing bags which is just over 100,000 bags per day – 2.8 million bags travelled through our airport during the 2018 Christmas period alone.
Our baggage system is a vast and intricate structure that ensures all bags arrive safely and on time to their destination. We have over 200,000 individual operational baggage assets that support the screening, movement and storage of baggage – T5 alone has 30 miles of baggage conveyors, 2.8 miles of tunnels and 44 baggage reclaim belts. It takes skill and intelligence, as well as a good measure of creative thinking, to ensure that all of our passengers travel happily, on time, and with their bags.
In such a dynamic and fast-moving environment, we seek people who have problem-solving skills, a keen drive and determination to strive for delivering great service, strong interpersonal skills, are team players and are always looking for opportunities to improve existing ways of working. The Heathrow baggage family is a supportive one that takes care of both its colleagues and customers, but also its local community hosting annual family fun days and supporting a nominated charity, raising money through a number of fundraising events.
Our baggage function really is a true blend of strategic thinking and immediate action so if you’re looking to build a career in systems engineering, controls and automation, operational leadership or incident management, this is the team to hone your attributes.
Our baggage team works closely with colleagues in the Engineering and asset management function to ensure the maintenance and service of our baggage system. We also recruit for operational leaders for roles such as Baggage Operational Coordinators and Baggage Service Managers to safeguard the day-to-day running of the baggage system and who also take a strategic view of the future to ensure this is maintained as per the increasing demand.
Our Baggage Resilience team are key during incidents to ensure that our baggage system is recovered as quickly as possible – they work closely with our supply chain and our central business resilience team. In such a fast-paced mechanical environment, it is of the utmost importance that the safety and welfare of our colleagues and passengers is maintained – that’s why we also recruit for safety lead roles that carry out operational risk assessments to ensure we continuously scrutinise and improve working practices.
