Amongst works in the background to improve speed and efficiency of the whole system, the airport has redesigned the check in hall. They’ve removed the ‘traditional’ desks and replaced them with podiums which are far more compact. Behind the podiums is a single baggage belt that runs the length of the hall, approximately 80m. After bags are tagged, passengers walk past the podium and place their own bags on the belt. This can be seen in the link I shared above. However, at the moment the single belt is not operational and so BA passengers have to walk the length of the hall to a second belt located by the easyJet desks to drop their bags off after they’ve been tagged, this is temporary.

This design, amongst some other major changes such as the relocation of the domestic arrivals exit, has allowed the airport to significantly increase check in hall capacity. I’ve seen this set up at a number of US airports, podium style check in counters with one large baggage belt running behind.