The rate at which airlines mishandled bags in 2016 dropped by 12.25%, according to a report released by air transport information technology company SITA.
The rate of 5.73 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers was also the lowest since SITA began tracking mishandled bags in 2003.
The company predicted more improvement in coming years as airlines implement technology upgrades in order to comply with an IATA mandate that by June 2018 they are able to track each bag step-by-step from the checkpoint to its destination.
«Airlines are gearing up to track every item of luggage, from start to finish, and to share that tracking information with all the partners who are involved in delivering those bags to and from the aircraft and back to passengers,» the report says.
According to the analysis, called «The Baggage Report,» airlines mishandled 21.6 million bags last year, down from 23.3 million in 2015 despite a worldwide passenger increase of 210 million. The mishandled bag rate has dropped 70% since 2007, when a record high of 46.9 million bags were mishandled, according to SITA…
