thyssenkrupp installs Australia's first iwalks at Perth and Melbourne Airports

Slated for completion soon, the 280m-long Skybridge is an elevated scenic walkway that will link Perth’s Airport to a new train station being constructed, enhancing the efficiency of public transport to and from the airport. Several iwalks by thyssenkrupp Elevator will be installed, together with another three elevators that have the capacity to each transport up to 66 passengers.

Commencing installation in August 2019, two of the four iwalks will extend 92m after completion – the longest iwalks that thyssenkrupp has ever manufactured. The remaining two are 38m in length. The iwalks will have the capacity to transport 7,300 passengers per hour, to support the anticipated 20,000 trips a day that the Forrestfield-Airport link is expected to carry when fully running by 2021, according to the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia.

“thyssenkrupp Elevator was selected as a result of a long and strong relationship between the airport’s builders and the company. Right from the start and due to the iwalks’ shallow pit for the hovering slimline bridge, we identified the iwalks as an appropriate solution to providing an aesthetic benefit to the customer”, says Peter Walker, CEO thyssenkrupp Elevator. He adds: “Innovations move our business forward, especially in the digital era and space. However, our company as well as our customers only gain value from innovations when they help us to be more efficient and provide faster and better services. With Australia’s first iwalks by thyssenkrupp, we turn innovations into profitable growth.”

Perth Airport is the largest airport in Western Australia. In 2016, after recent expansions and projects, it was awarded Capital City airport of the year by the Australian Airports Association. In 2018, it was named best airport in Australia for overall service quality by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Just in time for the Christmas travel season, thyssenkrupp technicians put into operation two iwalks at Melbourne Airport, Terminal 4. Two more are scheduled for installation in March 2020. Here, the biggest structural challenge was to install new moving walks within the existing structure and without creating a new pit. With the support of thyssenkrupp Elevator Australia, a feasibility study was done by a group of experts including structural engineers and architects. It was confirmed that thyssenkrupp iwalks were the most suitable product for this project.

Given the extremely tight timeline, two of the Melbourne iwalks were flown from Spain in to Australia and delivered in less than 20 weeks from the date the order was received.

thyssenkrupp’s iwalk, the next-generation moving walk, perfectly fits the airports’ ambitious expansions and upgrades. The spectacular Skybridge at Perth Airport ensures maximum passenger comfort and efficiency when moving from plane to train, or vice versa. Airports are an elementary component of urban mobility – especially when linked to a railway that takes the travellers directly to the city and therewith is an attractive alternative to going by car.

One of thyssenkrupp’s key objective is to improve every airport’s efficiency and every traveller’s experience. The company is proud to be making airports smarter around the world by

• seamlessly moving 1.8 billion people through its passenger boarding bridges every year
• having installed more than 5,000 global gate solutions at over 370 airports worldwide and
• operating and maintaining over 1000 passenger boarding bridges worldwide.

iwalks are a cutting-edge solution to the challenge of transporting people, trolleys, and the like. With 30 percent less weight compared to conventional solutions, they revolutionise the way that walks are developed, manufactured and installed. The iwalk’s modular, compact design is tailored to fit the evolving requirements of space, with reduced weight and outer dimensions to produce thinner floors, requiring less building space, whilst offering enhanced convenience and comfort of passengers due to a wider pallet.

About us:

thyssenkrupp Elevator
thyssenkrupp Elevator brings together the Group’s global activities in passenger transportation systems. With sales of €8.0 billion in fiscal 2018/2019 and customers in over 100 countries, thyssenkrupp Elevator built its position as one of the world’s leading elevator companies from scratch in a mere 40 years’ time applying thyssenkrupp unique engineering capabilities. With more than 50,000 highly skilled employees, the company offers smart and innovative products and services designed to meet customers’ individual requirements. The portfolio includes passenger and freight elevators, escalators and moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stair and platform lifts as well as tailored service solutions for all products. Over 1,000 locations around the world provide an extensive sales and service network to guarantee closeness to customers.

thyssenkrupp
thyssenkrupp is a technology group with strengths in materials. Over 162,000 employees in 78 countries work with passion and technological know-how to develop high-quality products and intelligent industrial processes and services for sustainable progress. Their skills and commitment are the basis of our success. In fiscal year 2018/2019 thyssenkrupp generated sales of €42.0 billion.

Together with our customers we develop competitive solutions for future challenges in their respective industries. With our engineering expertise we enable our customers to gain an edge in the global market and manufacture innovative products in a cost- and resource-friendly way. Our technologies and innovations are the key to meeting diverse customer and market requirements around the world, growing on the markets of the future, and generating stable earnings, cash flows and value growth.