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World's largest self-service bag drop zone opens at Gatwick Airport

Gatwick Airport has opened the world’s largest self-service bag drop zone in a move that the airport claims will allow it to increase peak check-in capacity by over 1000 passengers per hour.

Phase one of the new £36m North Terminal check-in floor opened last October, with the full space now open to passengers who will benefit from faster check-in and bag drop procedures as the airport aims to eliminate lengthy queues.

Now that the new bag drop zone is operational, Gatwick hopes to be able to process up to 4,350 passengers per hour at peak times, a significant increase on the 3,000 it can currently support.

Following the opening, Gatwick’s Chief Commercial Officer, Guy Stephenson commented: “As we prepare for the busiest summer the airport has ever had, the full opening of this new departure level will improve the experience our passengers have at Gatwick.

“This state-of-the-art facility is designed to eliminate queues by allowing passengers to check-in, drop off their bag and be on their way in less than two minutes.

“The continued investment we are making to transform the airport will help us to grow while we wait for a Government decision on a new runway.”

The opening of the new zone also means that budget carrier EasyJet, who are based out of the airport, can now move all its services to the North Terminal, instead of being split between both terminals as it is at the moment.

Ahead of the January 2017 move, Sophie Dekkers, EasyJet’s UK Director, said: “As our largest base Gatwick is of huge importance to EasyJet both strategically and for the millions of our passengers who travel through the airport every year.

“We recognise that our customer’s airport experience is a crucial part of their overall journey and so we are delighted to have opened this new area for our customers flying from London Gatwick.

“Our vision is for Gatwick to be both our biggest and best airport and this opening enables us to further deliver on our ambition to make travel easy and affordable for all of our customers.”