Financial Times

SriLankan commissions advanced Baggage Reconciliation System at BIA
SriLankan Airlines has commisssioned one of the most sophisticated baggage reconciliation systems in the world at the Bandaranaike International Airport, with the Ultratrax 8.0 BRS Application together with MC9060G Scanners.
“SriLankan Airlines is closely supporting the expansion and modernization of the Bandaranaike International Airport by Airport & Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. Earlier this year we opened the new ‘Serendib’ Business Class Lounge which has drawn excellent reviews from travellers for its modern amenities. The installation of the new Baggage Reconciliation System is yet another such programme,” said Nigel O’Shea, Head of Service Delivery at SriLankan, in a statement.

BIA is in the midst of a rapid expansion programme that has already seen the addition of a new arrivals area, Immigration area and Duty Free Complex.
Eight air-bridges are due to be completed later this year, which would further increase efficiency at an airport that has seen a continuous increase in flights and number of airlines since 2001.

The new baggage system supports SriLankan’s greatly increased services through BIA. This year the airline continued to step up its operations, adding frequencies to a host of Middle Eastern, South Asian, Far Eastern and Southeast Asian destinations. The number of flights to 10 destinations in India alone will rise to nearly 90 per week by the end of 2005. SriLankan offers rapid connections to 48 destinations in 27 countries throughout Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Far East and prides itself on providing the shortest possible transit time through Colombo.

“BIA is the second airport in the world to have this comprehensive Ultratrax 8.0 system, with only Terminal Five at London Heathrow having it up to now,” said Thangavelu Mahendran, Manager IT Business Systems, whose team handled the project. “We are proud to say that SriLankan is using such an advanced system, with which we are now ready for the next 4-5 years of expansion at BIA.”

“The new system is more proactive and prompts the user on what he has to do. It has 18 scanners that are used to scan baggage, which have increased functionality, with enhanced functions on the hand-held units.

We can even use the scanners on the Apron itself, so bags in transit can be sent directly from one aircraft to another, although we are waiting for construction work at the airport to end before doing that,” said Mahendran. “We also upgraded the back-end server, so everything has changed – scanners, software, servers, etc. It’s a technological leap forward.”

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