LATAM Airlines is set to roll-out SITA’s new baggage management technology, BagManager, across 12 airports in Latin America, starting with Santiago International Airport (SC) in Chile.
The new technology uses bar-coding and RFID tagging to provide real-time status reports on passengers’ baggage across the airports to the airline, which manages around 30 million bags a year.
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Under a six-year deal, the airline plans to introduce 350 new handheld devices to its luggage-handling team at airports in seven countries.
These devices will facilitate the loading, tracking and the management of the passengers’ baggage and will also ensure a smooth reconciliation of the baggage with its respective owner.
SITA’s BagManager will be instrumental in making the wide range of baggage data easily accessible to the ground-handling employees at all airports.
The real-time data available will make baggage tracking an easy task from check-in to final destination.
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By GlobalDataThe technology will help in reducing the cases of mishandled bags and resolving baggage issues briskly and smoothly, keeping flight departures on-time and minimising aircraft turnaround while reducing operational costs.
LATAM Airlines Group senior airport director Pablo Navarrete said: "For passengers it is a given that we will deliver their baggage on time at the passenger’s destination.
"With a growing network of airports across multiple countries, the ability to access real-time data on such a vital element of the travel experience gives us peace of mind that we will always have full visibility of our passengers’ baggage and are able to act proactively before a bag is mishandled."
In 2014, the global air transport industry had to incur a total cost of $2.4bn due to mishandling of bags.
SITA’s baggage management solution is used by more than 200 airports and 500 airlines across the world.
Image: Effective baggage management plays a role in enhancing passenger travelling experience. Photo: courtesy of SITA.
