Unisys renews airlines baggage deal

International airlines operating to and from Australia have signed a five year contract renewal worth more than AU$25 million with Unisys Australia.

The company will provide a baggage return system for 44 international airlines operating from the eight Australian international airports at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and the Gold Coast.

The Board of Airline Representatives Australia (BARA), an industry representative organisation for airlines, manages the partnership with Unisys on behalf of the airlines.

Unisys has worked with BARA since 2004 to provide the baggage reconciliation system that links passengers with their bags, tracking both as they move through the system. 

Each year airlines must secure and validate up to 20,000,000 bags for approximately 10,000,000 air travellers on international flights to or from Australia.

The baggage reconciliation system helps airlines comply with the Aviation Security Act's "Triple A" (account and authorise) regulations relating to baggage handling, which is mandated by the Commonwealth Government's Office of Transport Security.

"The Unisys baggage reconciliation system assists our member airlines to collectively meet compulsory security requirements for baggage handling," said Warren Bennett, executive director, BARA.

"What's more, it does so via an efficient, standardised process to prevent delays to passenger processing or tight flight schedules - two things that we know are essential for air travel customer satisfaction."

When passengers check in, each bag gets a barcode, which is then scanned and reconciled with a passenger record before it can be loaded onto the aircraft.

As the airline has a record of the baggage loading order, bags can be identified and recovered if passengers fail to board. 

This process prevents take-off with a mismatch of passengers, crew and baggage.

"Today's aviation sector must contend with a heightened security environment and regulatory obligations while seeking cost efficiencies in the current economic climate," said Sue Carter, VP, Commercial Industries, Unisys APAC. 

"While increased security measures help build public confidence in air carriers, to retain customer satisfaction in the competitive market, it's essential that airlines avoid lengthy processing or flight delays when baggage needs to be found and removed from flights.

"The Unisys baggage reconciliation system helps the airlines achieve these goals."

Unisys experts manage the network infrastructure and security architecture, and provide round-the-clock help desk support.