Airline baggage delivery hit an all-time high in 2013 with the mishandling rate dropping by more than 21 per cent from the previous year, according to a air transport IT specialist SITA.
The 10th annual SITA Baggage Report has said that the rate of mishandled bags in 2013 was 6.96 bags per thousand passengers, which is just half the rate reported 10 years ago, despite a 65.6 per cent increase in passenger numbers over the same time period.
According to SITA, the total annual cost of mishandled bags to the industry fell by 19.9 per cent even as passenger numbers rose more than 5 per cent in 2013 to top three billion passengers globally.
The current annual cost of mishandled bags is 50 per cent less compared to 2007 when the number peaked at 18.88 bags per thousand passengers.
"The industry has joined together to tackle the problem of mishandled bags, and we have seen great results. There is still more work to do, but 2013 was the best year ever, showing the benefits of this collaboration," CEO of SITA Francesco Violante said.
In 2013, passengers reported 21.8 million mishandled bags with 81 per cent of them being delayed bags.
Although transfer bags remain a challenge for the industry, performance in this area continues to improve as greater messaging reliability enables bags with short connection times to be identified before they arrive at the airport.
Better segregation of these 'hot bags' in the aircraft and smart mobile devices, such as tablets for key operational staff, have also played an important role. More than 200 airports and 500 airlines worldwide use SITA's baggage management solutions.
