More than 1 percent of airline passengers last year had their luggage go astray and fail to turn up at their arrival airport when they did, the major IT solutions supplier to the air travel industry said Wednesday.
That translated to nearly 12 in every 1,000 passengers.
The figure rose from just over 11 in 1,000, but the trend in the four years since sophisticated baggage-tracking technology was introduced remained sharply down from nearly 19 passengers per thousand in 2007, the Geneva-based SITA said.
The group has issued an annual Baggage Report since 2004, mainly based on lost luggage claims.
The report blamed the climb in the mishandled rate last year partly on a strong increase in the number of airline passengers to 2.44 billion from 2.21 billion in 2009, when airlines were badly hit by the global financial crisis.
But SITA said volcanic dust from Iceland in May 2010 and heavy snowfall across the northern hemisphere in February and December — which all led to flight delays and baggage problems — were also factors in the missing luggage rate.
During those three months the rate occasionally soared briefly to 15 to 20 percent.
The report said all but a tiny fraction of the missing luggage was delivered or retrieved by its owners within 48 hours. The rest was unclaimed or had been stolen.
SITA said airlines belonging to the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) had been paying increased attention to the mishandling problem which made up a large chunk of their costs.
Out of the declared overall profit of some $16 billion in 2010, the report said, compensation for lost and mishandled luggage and getting it back to its owners when found cost the IATA carriers an estimated $2.94 billion.
