Enhanced Baggage Handling at John F. Kennedy International Airport

SITA’s BagManager system is now being used by 44 international and domestic airlines at Terminal 4, John F. Kennedy International Airport, providing tracking and reconciliation for over five million checked bags each year.

Baggage reconciliation is an automated system providing a positive match between passengers and their bags, which helps to ensure that both travel together on the same aircraft. This reduces the numbers of mishandled bags and increases the level of security. It is commonly used in other parts of the world but is less widespread in North America. The SITA system meets the requirements of international airlines at the terminal which have heightened security needs.

“Providing the most advanced systems for the airlines operating at Terminal 4 is paramount and ensures the terminal we operate stays competitive in this increasingly challenging environment,” said Daryl Jameson, Director, FM/ICT, JFK IAT, LLC. “Baggage handling is a constant challenge for airlines and so the successful implementation of SITA's BagManager solution terminal-wide is a critical improvement to the baggage handling for both the airlines and their passengers.”

Andrew Halley, President of the Terminal Four Airline Consortium (TFAC) which represents all the airlines using the terminal, added, “We have welcomed the changes at JFK’s Terminal 4 because more efficient baggage handling is a win-win situation; it guarantees more satisfied passengers and saves costs for the airlines.

“SITA’s comprehensive baggage system, now in operation across the whole terminal, allows the airlines and ground handlers to load an aircraft more efficiently and locate baggage more quickly with the goal of providing a hassle-free experience for the more than eight million passengers that travel through the terminal.”

Recent figures have shown that the cost to the industry of mishandled baggage in 2007 was $3.8 billion, and this does not take account passenger inconvenience and stress. In the United States alone in 2007, 4.4 million bags were mishandled.

SITA BagManager is in use at more than 70 airports worldwide interfacing with check-in and baggage sortation systems to deliver end-to-end baggage management and reconciliation. It seamlessly integrates with WorldTracer, which was developed by SITA and co-sponsored by IATA, and is used by over 400 customers globally. Based on a single, shared database of lost bags which is accessible to all airlines, WorldTracer delivers worldwide round-the clock baggage tracing.

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