Baggage tracking with electronic chips, AirFrance-KLM
Release Date: 2009-08-18
In the last few days in Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, all Air France passengers' baggage checked in at Terminal 2C (flights to Asia and Africa), i.e. 2,000 bags per day, are tracked with electronic chips. A "smart" label incorporating RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is placed in each of the bags, so that they can be located in real time. The RFID chip, connected up to IT systems, means that the bags at the airport can be traced within a few meters, and that baggage handling performance is monitored and analysed, thus improving logistics.
Air France was the first airline to try out the new system on its Paris-Amsterdam route in 2006.
Every day at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Air France carries 100,000 bags (Air France and customer airlines), including 35,000 – and even 45,000 on a record day - which are in transit.
Contrary to other airlines, Air France publishes monthly figures for the missing baggage of the previous month. A bag is considered to be missing if does not reach its destination at the same time as its owner.
This figure should be compared with other similar airlines, which have large volumes of connecting traffic, i.e. 55% of Air France passengers at Paris- Charles de Gaulle, and not with those which only focus on point to point traffic.
The many daily flights to destinations on the Air France and KLM networks mean that nearly 80% of the missing baggage can be delivered to customers within 24 hours.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | AirFrance-KLM |
| Country: | France |
| Url: | http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/news/front-page-news/alaune-detail/article/bagages-pistes-par-des-puces-electroniques//back/9/index.html |