2022 was hectic for baggage management at all airports around the world and 2023 will be worse.
In 2023 (January to September), 7,676,698 delayed bag files were opened, which is equivalent to 10,882,676 bags!
This is an increase of 12%, compared to 2022, with the main impacted regions being Europe (45%) and America (32%).
Overall performance went down at all levels compared to 2022:
- Mishandled rate is up to 7.6 per 1000 bags (4.35 in 2022)
- Forward messages increased by 19%, damaged bags by 63%, and OHD by 4.8%
This is mainly due to less trained staff (experienced staff left due to Covid-19) and a lack of interest by young people (old technology, difficult environment, unhappy passengers, manutention, shifts, environmental CO₂ industry).
Passengers are also keen on taking control of the processes as 65% said they would definitively enter delayed bag incidents online and 29% maybe.
Sky Assist products can help you to absorb a heavy workload, even in peak periods, by simplifying and automating lost and found and front and back-office processes.
Financial savings
SBA is using all Sky Assist applications and the automated tools helped to absorb the huge volume of work during summer 2022 (June to September). The impact of BagAssist was calculated compared to summer 2019:
- Files (AHL/DPR/OHD): 80,000 in 2022, compared to 66,000 files in 2019, an increase of 21%
- People (staff): 57 in 2022, versus 82 in 2019, down -31%
- Files per staff (productivity): 19.5 in 2022, against 11.2 in 2019, up +74%
In total, 12 agents were spared, global saving for four months totalled €331,000, and there is no need of leaders anymore.
Back-office
The responsive design application can recognise the hardware used by the agent and adapt the screens automatically. Therefore, your staff can become mobile and use Android or iOS tablets with no installation (only a URL, internet access, and login/pwd are required). Incidents can therefore be quickly solved, when they happen, with a simplified and automated decision-making product that can also be used by non-experienced staff. Printing labels on a Bluetooth printer also avoids going back to the office and allows users to directly move the baggage to where the next step must be performed.
Automated DR/Delivery/Close is made simple using a bar code scan and can be completed in less than ten seconds.
Simplified OHD (including bag image) or Rushing modules can be used on the spot. Flight reports can be produced in less than one minute and sent to airline station manager by email.
Self-services for passengers
More airlines are integrating self-service online applications or automated AHL creation, but this means multiple files are created at airport arrival and can increase fraud risks. This creates more work for the ground handler as they need to verify/delete multiple files.
Sky Assist online tools have been built for airlines and ground handlers to minimise these risks:
- Kiosk-AHLreport (also works on a tablet mounted kiosk) and e/m-AHLreport verifies multiple files created by searching for duplicates in WorldTracer, based on similar tag numbers, routing, and flight dates.
- Kiosk-DPRreport takes two pictures of a damage bag at the airport for correct damage criteria and fraud prevention.
We will be happy to give you more information and show you the latest developments at the Ground Handling International conference during your visit to us at stand 59. We are looking forward to meeting with you on 28-30 November.