Made in Holland - Holland Trade

Passengers need to find their way around airports as quickly and easily as possible, and in this
respect Schiphol Airport caters to their every whim by constantly implementing new and innovative
technologies developed by a wide range of Dutch companies. This article follows a fictional passenger
called Scott Travis on his journey through the wonderful world of Dutch airport technology.
By Marc Mijer
Scott Travis is due to fly home today. However, he arrived back at
his hotel in the early hours of the morning following a dinner with a
Dutch client in Amsterdam city centre. They had been celebrating a
deal that Travis had struck with the client on behalf of his American
employer. Consequently, Travis did not get that much sleep and
got up a little later than he had planned. Luckily, his taxi gets him
to Schiphol Airport from Amsterdam city centre inside twenty
minutes. Now it’s fingers crossed that checking in and boarding go
just as smoothly …
Unknown to Travis, he is already being helped on his way the
moment he goes through the revolving door into Schiphol Plaza,
because the door is a Boon Edam Twintour (1), which allows eighty
passengers and their luggage to enter the airport every minute
(the highest passage capacity in the world). What’s more, Twintour
(and Tournex) revolving doors can be found throughout the entire
airport. They limit congestion, waiting times and irritation and
are also draught-proof. The doors guide intersecting flows of
passengers past each other in an efficient two-way system. In
addition, all door sets collapse to provide wide escape routes in an
emergency situation.
Black and yellow
This is the first time in his life that Travis has departed from this
airport, so he did have some concerns beforehand. However,
thanks to the signs (2), he knows immediately where he has to go.
The impact of the signs is due to the extensive research conducted
by designer Paul Mijksenaar into the ergonomics of sign systems,
which confirmed that black letters on a yellow background –
Schiphol’s trademark for decades – is the combination that is the
most striking as well as being the easiest to read. The size and
boldness of the letters ensure that the different languages used
on the signs stand out from one another. Mijksenaar devised
www.hollandtrade.com
different crystal-clear colour schemes for Schiphol facilities that
are not directly related to travel, such as blue signs for shops, dark
grey for toilets and green for the emergency exits. Because of all
these signs, Travis is instinctively reminded of the film “Terminal”
starring Tom Hanks, which is not surprising because Mijksenaar
was an adviser to director Steven Spielberg when he was building
the set for the film!
As he approaches the check-in counters, Travis remembers how
he only discovered after he arrived home last year that there were
things missing from his case. He doesn’t want to go through that
again. Fortunately, he can go to Seal & Go (3), which is a company
based at the airport that can completely seal multiple cases,
rucksacks, baby buggies, golf bags and other types of luggage – all
within one minute. Seal & Go developed a new fireproof, odourfree
system that uses special foil to seal the baggage faster, and
it is even possible to advertise on the foil. Travis pays seven euros
to have his case sealed, thus ensuring that it is 100% resistant to
thieves, drug smugglers and terrorists.
Iris scan
Travis is therefore reassured when he goes to check in at one of the
self-service kiosks using his e-ticket. Once he has checked in, he
leaves his case at one of the drop-off points, which are about ten
metres away. Vanderlande Industries (4) developed this check-in
method of the future for Schiphol Airport, as well as the baggage
“Just like Tom Hanks in the film ‘Terminal’”
1
Photo Teo Krijgsman
claim carousels and the baggage sorters. The security screening is
included in the partly underground baggage-sorting process, so
passengers do not need to queue to have their cases scanned by
a separate scanning machine before they check in. Another recent
innovation is the robot loader, which reduces the amount of heavy
loading work for human baggage handlers, thereby increasing
productivity and efficiency.
2 3
15