As airports grow busier and more complex, the simple act of storing baggage has become a critical part of operational efficiency. Dynamic Bag Storage (DBS) is turning traditional logistics on its head, transforming storage into a precision tool that drives punctuality and performance.
As airport baggage needs have evolved, storage is no longer a passive buffer.
Early baggage storage has become dynamic bag storage – a live, operational tool that shapes flow from check-in to make-up and all the way up to the aircraft ramp, improving punctuality, decongesting halls and lowering handling cost.
Twenty-five years ago, most airports had no baggage storage facilities, they were not common. Discouraged from early check-in, passengers could only leave their baggage with the airline two to three hours before a flight. The bags were then moved through the baggage handling system (BHS) from check-in, through security screening, and straight to make-up.
Today, baggage storage is essential, especially in medium and large-sized airports. Not only have passenger expectations for flexibility and early check-in grown, but so have the needs of transfer-heavy hubs, such as Doha’s Hamad International Airport (HIA), where more than 70% of the passengers are in transit.
Modern tote-based rack storage
Baggage storage has accordingly evolved with the growing need of airports to control bags earlier.
Early Baggage Storage (EBS) emerged first, enabling airports to hold bags for hours before the flight – in effect, a capacity buffer for early and transfer bags.
The baggage would be released from storage in line with the flight schedule and calculated to ensure the journey to the ramp of the aircraft was a smooth flow through the baggage hall and apron with minimal idling.
Over the last decade, the emphasis has shifted from convenience to efficiency, and Dynamic Bag Storage (DBS) reflects that shift.
In a DBS, bags may dwell for only minutes. The goal is to regulate flow: smoothing peaks, sequencing retrieval and enabling punctual, predictable make-up.
With a DBS, airports gain earlier control of bags, reduce hall congestion and support on-time performance by delivering batches when the operation needs them, not when they happen to arrive. It is, in essence, a flow controller.
However, the impact of a DBS will greatly depend on whether the airport has a conventional conveyor BHS or a modern BHS; an Individual Carrier System (ICS).
Conveyor-based BHS typically use lane-based EBS, where bags join a fixed conveyor lane in sequence and are retrieved first-in, first-out.
Lane-based storage (conventional conveyor)
It’s simple and robust, but it struggles when flight plans shift or peaks hit – the system must often reshuffle whole lanes, driving up recirculation and tying up capacity. And efficiency can also suffer when flights under-fill a lane.
An airport with a conventional sorter typically operates with lane-based conveyor storage; it can also have an ICS-connected storage module, but this involves a loading station where bags are placed into totes once they have entered the storage zone.
On an ICS, every bag already travels in its own carrier. Where older, conventional systems use lane based or loop based storages that do not provide efficient single bag access, the modern rack-based storage systems enable single-bag access and retrieval of the carrier (tote) in any order. This enables the DBS to build precise batches, release them exactly when make-up is ready and sequence bags for speed-loading.
ICS also broadens the choice of storage facilities. As well as compact lane modules, it can use rack-based mini-load solutions, which keep dwell times short and throughput high.
ICS lane-based storage
ICS rack storage
Overall, ICS is crucial when bags stay for minutes rather than hours, which is often the case for transfer bags.
Many airports have been able to take advantage of underused areas to locate their baggage storage – very often in their basements. From a baggage flow perspective, a site close to or above the make-up area is most preferential as this keeps flows compact and minimises transport distances. But not every terminal has spare space.
Because storage systems demand a relatively large footprint, retrofitting them into an existing building often calls for creative engineering. Often airports may need to sacrifice other utility areas or design custom rack-based solutions that use vertical space efficiently – or even build extra external facilities to house the storage.
Ceiling height tends to play a decisive role. Conventional warehouse crane systems, for example, require high vertical clearance, whereas mini-load or shuttle-based rack solutions are optimised for medium to high ceilings and easy operator access.
Ultimately, optimal location and use are a balance between space availability, building constraints and operational flow. A well-sited storage facility reduces baggage transport distances, integrates smoothly with check-in and screening, and allows operators to make maximum use of the storage for peak regulation and batch building.
Nevertheless, the design goal is not just where it can fit, but how it can help control the flow.
Airports must align the design with their specific operational profile – a system that works well for a regional terminal may be wholly unsuited to a major transfer hub.
So aligning the baggage storage with the throughput is critically important. Whereas early EBS installations tended to be built with capacity in mind, modern DBS facilities are all about flow.
It’s vital that the baggage storage can take in and release bags quickly enough to match the airport’s BHS. If its rate of flow cannot keep pace and help flatten the peaks, the system becomes a bottleneck.
Airports rarely operate at a steady flow. Rather, there tend to be peaks during their busiest periods, so both daily and seasonal.
A well-designed DBS smooths these spikes by holding bags and releasing them as perfectly sized batches, keeping baggage handlers productive.
Throughput speed tends to be more important than total storage size.
For hubs with a high proportion of transfer passengers, single-bag storage access is essential as flight connections can be tight. This allows handlers to pull out the one bag that needs to catch a connection without disturbing hundreds of others.
Only an ICS tote system and rack-storage DBS can deliver the necessary flexibility and performance level to meet the demands of an airport with high transfer traffic.
Contrary to common belief, the operational availability of a baggage storage system rarely depends on the retrieval machines themselves as these typically offer very high reliability. Instead, availability is threatened by bag jams and the ability to clear them quickly. In tote-based ICS, jams rarely occur because the system transports a standard carrier rather than a loose piece of luggage.
To maintain continuous operations, it is essential that all storage positions are easily accessible to handlers. This ensures that any bag jam can be swiftly cleared without disrupting the wider system. Designing for accessibility and rapid recovery is therefore a critical element in achieving high system availability.
Airports should also consider additional factors such as redundancy (backup systems for resilience), recoveries from bag jams, integration with screening and the ability to adapt to changing flight schedules.
A facility that can switch seamlessly between handling early bags, transfer flows and batch building provides far greater long-term value than one built for capacity alone.
Batch building – the process in which bags for the same flight are grouped and then released in timed batches from the baggage storage – keeps handlers working steadily, instead of in fits and starts.
However, its full impact can only be realised by a DBS. Batch building with a regular EBS is limited because lane-based storage can only release bags in sequence, meaning the airport must either dedicate entire lanes to one batch or accept inefficiencies when flights change schedule. The system helps absorb early check-ins, but its ability to support true batch control is constrained.
A DBS enables dynamic batch building. Bags are stored with single-bag access – in ICS totes, racks or shuttle-based systems – meaning handlers can retrieve exactly the right group of bags at exactly the right time. This not only increases make-up efficiency, but also allows pre-builds of ULDs or baggage carts.
DBS transforms storage into a sequencing tool: assembling the right sets of bags in advance and reducing pressure when departure time approaches.
Batch building regulates baggage flow across the system. By releasing bags in planned groups, the airport can:
The software and controls are as critical as the hardware: batch logic must be integrated with the broader baggage flow, from hall to ramp. In this respect, airports that rely on their BHS supplier to design both the storage and its controls are the ones that see the best results.
With the BHS supplier involved, the system can be fine-tuned to local operating realities, aligning with specific flight profiles, peak demand patterns and the constraints of the building layout.
Ultimately, optimised batch building is about control rather than capacity.
The right EBS or DBS lets airports decide when and how bags move, turning storage into a strategic lever for punctuality, efficiency and resilience.
The role of baggage storage has changed a lot over the last 25 years. Initially, its primary role was absorbing early check-ins, and EBS fitted the bill. Now it’s all about flow control, which is why DBS is essential because it turns storage into an operational tool. A DBS regulates peaks, sequences bag retrieval and enables batch building so make-up runs predictably. The same solution won’t work for every airport, though. In ICS environments, for example, single-bag access is the lever, while in non-ICS environments, the lever is design and controls. Both routes can deliver predictable, just-in-time baggage flow.
Ultimately, the best set-up is the one that aligns storage throughput with BHS performance, fits the building constraints (floorspace and height) and builds in resilience. With the right controls, storage becomes an operational enabler that delivers punctuality and efficiency without the need for more floorspace.
