Schiphol is working on the further expansion, renewal, renovation and innovation of the baggage basements. This includes preparations for the construction of a new baggage basement with baggage-handling system. The new baggage basement is located where we are also making preparations for the construction of a new terminal. No final decision has yet been taken on the construction of this new terminal. To keep the option open, an integral design will be made. This means that the design of the baggage basement will take into account the possibility of building a new terminal on the roof of the basement.
Schiphol is one of Europe’s oldest airports and has been under operational pressure due to lack of space since 2016.
Schiphol has more than 145,000 m2 of baggage systems. This surface area is equal to around 29 football pitches, divided into various areas.
Schiphol as a whole is about 4.5 metres below sea level, but the baggage halls are the deepest: up to 13 metres below sea level in some places. The wall of the Basement E is 1.1 metres thick in order to hold back groundwater.
In total, there are over 30 kilometres of transport system in the baggage areas; the systems run on 110 server cabinets and nearly ten thousand motors.
The longest distance a suitcase can travel at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is 2.5 kilometres.