Irish Independent Circulation: 61.034 Page: 14 Date: 22/01/2026
Dublin Airport luggage boss on how complex system handles 19 million bags in a typical year the system, but we’re also conBeneath terminals through stantly looking at throughput – how many bags we can handle and how is conveyor belt efficiently we can do it,” he said. explained the CCTV monitoring network the size of of He the entire system and said that, on the mid-JanuaryTuesday on which we seven GAA pitches spoke, about 7,000 bags were in transit.
SARAH BURKE
M
ost passengers stop thinking about their luggage the moment it disappears behind the rubber flaps at check-in. What happens next – whether it makes the flight, where it goes, how it’s checked and tracked – is largely a mystery. Behind the scenes at DublinAirport, a vast, constantlymoving system is working to make sure bags and passengers are reunited at the end of theirjourneys. In a typical year, the airport processes around 19 million pieces of luggage across its two terminals. In 2019, before Covid-19 brought aviation to a standstill, 7.1 million bags passed through the system. At the centre of it all is Marc Brennan, Dublin Airport’s head of baggage, who has spent 26 years at the airport, 25 of them working in baggage operations. From a control room overlooking the conveyor network, his team monitors every bag as it snakes through what Mr Brennan describes as “a modern, complex system that people only ever notice when something goes wrong”. The current system was installed at the beginning of the pandemic, when the airportwas ghostlyquiet. It has been in operation since May 2023 and covers an area equivalent to seven GAApitches. In Terminal 2 alone, the behind-thescenes baggage hall covers an area spread across four floors of conveyors, scanners and sorting equipment. If the entire baggage system were laid out end-to-end, the conveyor belts beneath Dublin Airport would stretch for 14 kilometres. During a visit to the baggage control room, Mr Brennan explained that the biggest priority for him and his team is throughput and flow. “The most important thing is that bags are safe and secure as they move
He also pointed out one of the active sorting machines in Terminal 2, an automated system consisting of wooden tray tops that tipped bags into different locations. In theory, sections of the system can process up to 1,200 bags an hour. In reality, Mr Brennan said, it is closer to 950, once variables such as bag shape, weight and screening requirements are factored in. “A real operational measure for us is what we can handle in 15 minutes,” he said. That is particularly the case during peak travel periods or when major sporting events are taking place. When a passenger at Dublin Airport checks in, their bag is tagged with a barcode and 10-digit number – the key to everything that follows. Almost instantly, the information is sent to international baggage tracking systems, allowing the bag to be followed as it travels through the airport’s conveyors, sorters and scanners. Lasers and cameras read the tag repeatedly as the bag moves through the system, recording every turn and decision point. “We can see every position it’s been in, everyright turn it’s taken, and we get images of it as well,” Mr Brennan said. “If a bag goes missing, that data becomes evidence in helping to locate it.” The bag’s first major stop is security screening. What most passengers do not realise is that checked bags are not X-rayedinthesamewayashandluggage. Instead, theypass through explosives detection systems. At the first level, about 70pc of bags are automatically cleared by the system’s algorithms. For the remaining bags, images are sent to a screening room beside the baggage hall, where a specialist security screening company reviews them in detail. Screeners can rotate images, examine layers and take additional time if something looks unusual. “If they’re still not happy, the bag will stop at a specific location in the system and it cannot be touched,” Mr Brennan said. “At that point, decision-making changes. It goes from being an airport operational issue to involving security management and, potentially,An Garda Síochána.”
Above, Marc Brennan, head of baggage at Dublin Airport. Left, a sorting system in Terminal 2. Photos: Gerry Mooney
He recalls a recent incident in Terminal 2 where a bag triggered a Level 5 security response – the highest category. The bag, which had already passed through check-in and initial screening, had to be left in place, around 200 metres into the system, while further procedures were followed and an evacuation of the airport took place. “Thatwas a challenging day,” MrBrennan said. “There are a huge number of processes that kick in to make sure everything is safe and secure.” Not all securityissues are that serious. A Level 4 alert, for example, might be triggered by something like a wet-cell battery or an unusual electronic item. In those cases, the bag may need to be opened for inspection.
“We’ve had a college skeleton from a lab, which raised a few eyebrows when it appeared on the X-ray”
“If the bag is unlocked, it can be opened without the passenger present,” Mr Brennan said. “If it’s locked, that becomes more complicated.” In a typical year, thousands of bags require some form of manual intervention, often for far more mundane reasons. Loose straps, oversized wheels and ribbons tied to handles – a commonwaypassengers tryto identifytheir luggage – can all cause problems. “The tag is absolutely critical,” Mr Brennan said. “If it’s covered by ribbons orstraps, the scanners can’t read it.That sends the bag for manual encoding, which means it stays in the system longer.” Despite this, Dublin Airport still has one of the lowest “in-system” times in Europe. Over decades in baggage operations, MrBrennan has seen almost everything pass through the system. “We’vehadprostheticlegsgothrough,” he said. “We’ve had a college skeleton from a lab – not a real one, thankfully – which raised a few eyebrows when it appeared on the X-ray. “You’d see a lot of meat. People coming home with rashers and sausages, cooler boxes packed for holidays. If it’s not packed properly, it can cause issues.” Some moments stand out forentirely different reasons.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Brennan stood in Terminal 2 on a day when only 14 bags passed through the system. “At another time of year, that might have been 14,000,” he said. “The place was completely dead.” At the other extreme are peak summer weekends, Christmas and bank holidays,when the system is under constant pressure. “We have 15 people on dutyat anyone time, 24/7,” Mr Brennan said. Around €200m has been spent upgrading systems, including replacing much of the olderTerminal 1 equipment with modern glass-based conveyors, and introducing new location and tracking technology. On arrival, the average time from aircraft stand to the first bag appearing on the carousel is around 18 minutes. The European average is 40. Despite the scale and complexity of the operation, Mr Brennan said Dublin Airport’s rate of lost baggage is well below one bag per thousand, also outperforming European averages. “When you look at the conveyor system, you might think it’s the same thing every day,” he said. “But there are different challenges and different airlines every single day. That’s what keeps it interesting.”
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