FEBRUARY 2013 GROUND HANDLING INTERNATIONAL
global now; and the tags contain the right balance of read and write tolerances. Typically we see scanners working from one to fi ve metres, which is critical. For example, someone could walk down an aircraft aisle and check the life vests with a scanner: it’s both quick and accurate.” Other applications, of course, are also entertained. Pankaj mentions that baggage has been a prime area of interest for Motorola and that Las Vegas represents a good example of the technology, when rolled out. “There’s no one answer when it comes to asking why other airports haven’t adopted this technology,” he refl ects. “Las Vegas benefi ted from having one owner: most US airports are owned by a number of bodies, so agreement would be necessary before any RFID deployment could be envisaged. Internationally, it’s different. In Asia, the technology adoption curve is slower so not much has happened there. In Europe, barcodes are still strong and whilst people know about RFID, it’s not seen as a high priority. In fact, paying for lost or mishandled baggage is accepted as part of the cost of doing business.
“For the future, though, I’m optimistic.
Broadly speaking, we’re seeing growth in RFID, particularly in the retail sector: Macy’s and JC Penney, for example, have both gone down this route. Aviation is lagging behind to an extent but there are reasons for this: the recession and rising fuel costs have played a part. But I still see more interest ahead.”
Holidaymaker haven
Lyngsoe Systems stepped into the breach some years back to address the problem of misrouted luggage. One of this Danish company’s core competencies is that of improving the baggage handling process: this includes fi nding and eliminating the reasons for mishandled baggage. The company’s past experience bears close scrutiny. Its fi rst application was that of a project at Hong Kong International, which was something of a trail-blazer within the sector, back in 2004. Since that (highly successful) application, Lyngsoe has come up with applications for the postal industry and the supply chain sector. Moreover, other airports have since featured within its inventory: these include Aalborg, Milan Malpensa and Lisbon. In all, it has installed RFID solutions in over 60
RFID UPDATE 45
countries around the world. One of its most impressive applications has been that of keeping track of cruise passengers’ baggage at Copenhagen airport.
This airport handles around 20m passengers each year, which understandably generates huge amounts of baggage that is handled by the three handling companies operating at the airport. In addition to the traditional travellers, the airport has lately seen a new type of passenger arriving in large groups, often creating a bottleneck both at check- in and baggage handling. These are the cruise passengers. It is not unusual for the facility to have to handle 2,000 - 3,000 cruise passengers at one time. Because they are not necessarily going on the same fl ight they cannot be checked in as a group. Furthermore, cruise passengers often travel with very heavy and odd-size baggage, because they have been abroad for an extended period of time. In order to serve all the travellers, cruise passengers and the traditional travellers alike, an historic old hangar was converted in 2011 to allow for check-in and baggage sorting for cruise guests. Before the hangar was ready for use
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2012.indd 1
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