Heathrow is the UK’s busiest airport, with a luggage system that processes 180,000 items per day.

The airport will soon have a third runway, and some serious upgrades are going to be needed to accommodate it, including an upgrade to their massive, high-tech luggage system.

Terminal 3’s automated baggage sorting zone may seem like something out of a sci-fi movie, but luggage is no laughing matter at Heathrow. On a daily basis, tens of thousands of items need to be sorted and sent on their way, and there simply aren’t enough people to make sure all of this goes according to plan. The entire luggage process relies on either automation and tech or a well-designed process in order to keep things moving.

The baggage tag that gets put onto your luggage at check-in carries a message that contains all the information the system needs. This message communicates where your bag needs to go, how much it weighs, and every other necessary factor. As the system reads this information, it will route the baggage to where it needs to go. This system requires very little human intervention, as all of the sorting is done automatically. Staffers are always available to troubleshoot any problems and maintain the system, but the system doesn’t require workers to move any of the bags themselves. The whole luggage system at Heathrow is run by IT.

Once Heathrow has a third runway up and running, new baggage systems will be put in place. According to the airport, the existing systems work, but are under a lot of pressure. The more bags you put into this system, the more the risk of something going wrong goes up. More bags equals more equipment, more motors, and more time spent running at full capacity. The longer the machines spend working at full capacity, the higher the likelihood of a problem. All of this is just a typical day at Heathrow, which may see even more bags and passengers coming through very soon.