El Dorado International airport is set to become the greenest terminal in South America, with an array of 10,000 solar panels which are destined to be fully operational in 2019. At the time of writing, installation of the panels had just begun. 

The panels, which will occupy an area the size of 20 Olympic swimming pools, are part of a wider plan intended make the airport the greenest in the region. It is thought that within the space of eight months some 12% of the airport’s energy requirements will be attributable to solar energy harvesting.

The airport, which is the third busiest passenger airport in the region, and was named in March as the best airport in South America in the annual World Airport Awards.

The ongoing renovation of Denver International airport is to see world’s largest installation of self-bag-drops, provided by self-service specialist Materna US.

The implementation of the Materna self-bag-drop systems is part of the US$650m Denver International airport’s Great Hall project that is under way. As part of the redevelopment of Jeppesen Terminal, Materna has been commissioned to provide 176 hybrid self-bag-drop units and 40 check-in kiosks by 2020.

This will make the airport the world’s largest self-bag-drop installation and the first major US airport to fully embrace the services. Denver airport is currently increasing its capacity significantly and investing in this technology will help to serve approximately 80m passengers per year in future, up from the 50m it was originally designed to handle.

The planned expansion also focuses on improving airport security and improving the passenger journey and experience.

Materna’s self-bag-drop solution comprises a classic agent counter combined with a self-bag-drop unit and scanner portal positioned over the conveyor to scan baggage tags. The scanner unit only accepts baggage of the correct size and weight, which will help to ensure safe baggage handling processes are followed. The kiosks are equipped with Materna’s common use (CUSS) platform that all carriers can use and some major airlines are already undergoing integration.

The customisable solution gives the airport and its passengers the highest level of flexibility in passenger handling, as it allows both self-service and personal service at the counter.

This project in the US is an important milestone for Materna’s global activities and those in North America in particular.

Materna has already successfully completed proof of concepts and full installations at numerous airports in the America, including Toronto, John Wayne airport, Montreal, Miami, Quebec and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International airport.