THE FIFTH annual edition of SITA’s Baggage Report shows the amount of mishandled baggage – checked baggage delayed, damaged or pilfered – fell by over a fifth last year from 42.4 million bags in 2007 to 32.8 million bags in 2008. The number of bags permanently lost or stolen also fell, from 1.28 million to 736,000.
SITA chief executive Francesco Violante said it was the first time since the annual report was published that the rates had dropped. “With almost ten million fewer bags mishandled last year, the industry saved some US$800 million,” he said.
“Partly this is due to industry initiatives which have resulted in fewer bags being checked in, and hence fewer bags mishandled, but it also shows that baggage processing initiatives – such as IATA’s Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP) and SITA’s integrated baggage management solutions – are delivering positive results and helping the industry and customers alike.”
The majority of the 32.8 million mishandled bags were reunited with their owners in less than 48 hours and only a small fraction, 0.32 bags per thousand passengers, or 736,000 bags, failed to show up at all compared with 0.57 per thousand passengers or 1.28 million bags in 2007. This improvement reduced industry losses by US$800 million to US$2.9 billion last year.
The numbers of passengers travelling in 2008 was stable (up by just 1.4 per cent on 2007) at 2.3 billion passengers. Airlines and airports are working hard on the baggage issue. Some 49 per cent of airlines and 55 per cent of airports surveyed by SITA in 2008 gave high or very high priority to IT investment to “improve baggage processing and management.”
Airlines want see both checked and carry-on baggage volumes reduced because lower weight means less fuel burned and fewer bags mean speedier aircraft turnaround times and less compensation paid for mishandled and lost bags.
There already is a clear trend towards passengers travelling with fewer and lighter bags and airlines making passengers pay the costs associated with checking in baggage. Ancillary revenues related to baggage charges are growing at many European and North American airlines.
The worst mishandling results are bag transfers from one aircraft to another – though the percentage of bags mishandled in transit as a percentage of all mishandled bags has been falling steadily, from 61 per cent in 2005, to 49 per cent in 2008. Other causes of mishandled baggage include:
Failed to load 16 per cent; ticketing error/bag switch/security/other 13 per cent; arrival station mishandling eight per cent; airport/customs/weather/space-weight restriction six per cent; loading/offloading error five per cent and tagging error three per cent.
IATA’s recent Baggage Improvement Program aims to cut baggage mishandling in half by 2012 – generating annual savings to the industry of between US$1 billion and US$1.9 billion.
Fewer lost bags saves US$800m
Friday, 13 February 2009
THE FIFTH annual edition of SITA’s Baggage Report shows the amount of mishandled baggage – checked baggage delayed, damaged or pilfered – fell by over a fifth last year from 42.4 million bags in 2007 to 32.8 million bags in 2008. The number of bags permanently lost or stolen also fell, from 1.28 million to 736,000.
SITA chief executive Francesco Violante said it was the first time since the annual report was published that the rates had dropped. “With almost ten million fewer bags mishandled last year, the industry saved some US$800 million,” he said.
“Partly this is due to industry initiatives which have resulted in fewer bags being checked in, and hence fewer bags mishandled, but it also shows that baggage processing initiatives – such as IATA’s Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP) and SITA’s integrated baggage management solutions – are delivering positive results and helping the industry and customers alike.”
The majority of the 32.8 million mishandled bags were reunited with their owners in less than 48 hours and only a small fraction, 0.32 bags per thousand passengers, or 736,000 bags, failed to show up at all compared with 0.57 per thousand passengers or 1.28 million bags in 2007. This improvement reduced industry losses by US$800 million to US$2.9 billion last year.
The numbers of passengers travelling in 2008 was stable (up by just 1.4 per cent on 2007) at 2.3 billion passengers. Airlines and airports are working hard on the baggage issue. Some 49 per cent of airlines and 55 per cent of airports surveyed by SITA in 2008 gave high or very high priority to IT investment to “improve baggage processing and management.”
Airlines want see both checked and carry-on baggage volumes reduced because lower weight means less fuel burned and fewer bags mean speedier aircraft turnaround times and less compensation paid for mishandled and lost bags.
There already is a clear trend towards passengers travelling with fewer and lighter bags and airlines making passengers pay the costs associated with checking in baggage. Ancillary revenues related to baggage charges are growing at many European and North American airlines.
The worst mishandling results are bag transfers from one aircraft to another – though the percentage of bags mishandled in transit as a percentage of all mishandled bags has been falling steadily, from 61 per cent in 2005, to 49 per cent in 2008. Other causes of mishandled baggage include:
Failed to load 16 per cent; ticketing error/bag switch/security/other 13 per cent; arrival station mishandling eight per cent; airport/customs/weather/space-weight restriction six per cent; loading/offloading error five per cent and tagging error three per cent.
IATA’s recent Baggage Improvement Program aims to cut baggage mishandling in half by 2012 – generating annual savings to the industry of between US$1 billion and US$1.9 billion.
