IATA supports airlines and airports using UHF RFID technology on their luggage

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) passed a resolution to support the global deployment of RFID tracking of checked air baggage. This resolution is the latest step in the use of UHF RFID tags on passenger luggage to global baggage tracking. The IATA organization voted at the 75th annual meeting in Seoul, South Korea in early June.

The transition to RFID is a broad collaboration between all stakeholders in the entire baggage industry, including airports, airlines, porters and technology providers. IATA plans to work with airlines and airports to apply RFID technology to 80% of air baggage shipments over the next three years. This means that at least 74 airports need to deploy RFID reader infrastructure.

At the meeting, the parties voted unanimously to pass the resolution and implemented the baggage information transmission standard to more accurately track the information of the baggage passing through the key points of the card reader throughout the journey. The resolution follows a decade-long research process and recommendations, including how to regulate the use of RFID.

IATA began researching RFID technology in 2005 as a tool to reduce the handling of airline and airport baggage. Andrew Price, head of global baggage operations at IATA Airports, Passengers, Cargo and Safety (APCS), said the association began implementing a baggage improvement program in 2008. By 2012, the baggage handling rate was reduced by more than 70%.

From 2013 to 2017, the baggage handling rate dropped further, in part due to improved communication capabilities. Subsequently, IATA issued Resolution 753 for baggage tracking and entered into force in June 2018. Price said: "Although 80% of airlines have an implementation plan for IATA Resolution 753, there is still a lot of work to be done to fully implement it." So far, some airlines and airports have adopted RFID technology as a Pilot projects in these cases.

Gareth Joyce, senior vice president of airport customer service and cargo operations at Delta Air Lines, said that Delta Air Lines recently switched to RFID hands-free scanning technology at its largest 84 airport sites in the country, which accounted for 85 of the Delta Airline baggage check-in. %the above.

In fact, since Delta launched the RFID baggage tag in 2016, the company has collected more than 2 billion tracking points each year. Joyce said: "In this way, we can make adjustments and improvements to continue to improve accuracy, and 99.9% of the current baggage can be accurately scanned and tracked."

Price says RFID offers an automated method that is faster and more accurate than barcode scanning. The airport reads the RFID tags applied to the baggage before and after each flight, and can identify and track the baggage without manual intervention.

Price said that for IATA, "some people worry that if there is no such technology, millions of bags will continue to be mishandled every year, especially when passengers transfer through the airport." IATA's Code of Practice (RP) 1740c provides a turnaround The RFID specification for baggage, which was revised in 2018 to reflect the latest developments in RFID technology, including a series of tests that ensure compliance with global performance standards.