Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport Baggage Handling

GRAEF managed and provided engineering services for a $28 million upgrade of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport’s (MKE) existing baggage screening system. GRAEF’s design included a remodel and upgrade of the baggage screening operation to provide better integration into the ticketing and bag check process. This removed the existing manual screening operation from the ticket lobby area to new additions on the air side of the facility.

The newly installed system is an automated, in-line baggage handling system (BHS) that allowed for the removal of the EDS machines in the MKE ticketing lobby. The EDS machines were replaced with an automated, “back-of-the-house” in-line system located in a new building addition specially designed to accommodate the upgraded equipment.

The new system is fully operational with a conveyor belt behind the ticket counter that takes the bags to a 24,000-square-foot BHS/Matrix addition on the secured side of the airport. In the BHS building, the bags are screened by one of four new automated EDS machines that can each handle up to 750 bags per hour. The project’s final cost was approximately $4 million under the original budget.

MKE hosts more than 570,000 passengers flying into or out of the airport per month and this new system is critical to its operations and security. The project has successfully streamlined the baggage security operations at MKE, adding efficiency and ease for both the airport employees and MKE travelers.