Airlines significantly improve baggage handling in 2015
View(s):The global airline industry’s focus on improving baggage management is showing strong results with 2015 baggage mishandling rates dropping to their lowest ever. According to the SITA Baggage Report 2016, released last week, the rate of mishandled bags was 6.5 bags per thousand passengers in 2015, down 10.5 per cent from the previous year, less than half the rate in 2003 and the lowest ever recorded. SITA is the world’s leading specialist in air transport communications and IT solutions.
This improvement comes despite an 85 per cent rise in passenger numbers since 2003. Increasing passenger volumes put pressure on the industry’s infrastructure, resources and baggage handling systems, SITA said in a media release. Last year more than 3.5 billion passengers travelled and with no sign that this growth will slow down, the industry is making step-changes to how it handles baggage. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is leading the way with its call for airlines to track each bag throughout its entire journey.
IATA Resolution 753, to be implemented by airlines by June 2018, will mean that bags will be tracked at every point of the journey. Another area of change identified in SITA’s report is the growth of self-service bag services. Around 40 per cent of airlines and airports now provide self-bag-tag printing at kiosks and more than three quarters are expected to do so by 2018. Almost a third of passengers expect to be using bag-drop – either a dedicated staffed station or fully self-service – in 2016.
How bags are tagged for their journey is also evolving. Over the past year there has been progress across the industry on permanent electronic tags which offer passengers independence and can reduce waiting times. Airlines are now trialing these tags which passengers update with their flight information for each journey via a mobile phone app. Home-printed bag tags, which offer passengers similar benefits, are a lower cost option being used by several airlines today, SITA said.