Airlines reduce baggage loss by using new tech, report shows
The number of bags lost by airlines decreased last year because the aviation sector is utilising technological innovations, according to a new report.
Aviation technology company Sita said 33.4 million bags were mishandled in 2024, compared with 33.8 million during the previous year.
Given the 8.2% increase in passenger numbers, the rate of bags lost fell to 6.3 per 1,000 passengers, down from 6.9 in 2023.
This is a 67% drop since 2007.
Sita said airports and airlines are handling baggage with 'more precision' by using real-time tracking, AI-powered analytics and self-service systems.
The report stated that these advancements are 'no longer experimental, they are becoming standard and they are clearly having an effect'.
Sita chief executive David Lavorel said: 'We've seen a radical shift with automation and the widespread use of real-time tracking.
' Passengers now expect their baggage experience to be as easy and transparent as using a rideshare or delivery app.
'It's no longer just about moving bags, it's about delivering a smooth, connected journey.
' Airlines are ready to tap into technology that improves the passenger experience while keeping costs down and being simple to roll out.
'Together with our partners, we're reimagining baggage handling to give passengers full visibility and control from departure to arrival, giving them peace of mind and making travel simpler and better.'
Despite the improvement, lost bags cost the aviation industry an estimated five billion US dollars (£4.2 billion) last year from courier returns, customer service, claims handling and lost productivity.
Delays remained the most common baggage issue last year, accounting for 74% of mishandling incidents.
Of the 33.4 million mishandled bags, some 66% were 'resolved' within 48 hours, the report added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Coin Geek
18 minutes ago
- Coin Geek
US miners' share grows as Chinese ASIC makers put down US roots
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... America's block reward miners are hoping Chinese ASIC manufacturers move swiftly on expanding U.S. production facilities because mining margins are currently thinner than Melba toast. JPMorgan (NASDAQ: JPM) declared this week that the combined share of the 13 U.S.-listed mining operators they track now accounts for 31.5% of the overall BTC network hash rate, a new all-time high (the overall U.S. miners' share has been estimated at over 40%). The gains reflect the increasingly welcome climate for stateside miners since Donald Trump's second stint as U.S. president began in January. So much for the good news, the BTC network hash rate has dipped below 900 EH/s since June began but continues to hover near all-time highs, which is pushing up production costs. The overall cost to mine a single BTC—including the need to constantly replace/upgrade ASIC mining rigs to keep pace with competitors—is hovering just under $100,000, only a few thousand below the token's current fiat price. It doesn't help that BTC transaction fees have dropped below 1% of total block rewards, a low not seen since January 2022. Simply put, most BTC transactions now occur on exchanges (trading BTC for other tokens or cash), offering zero benefit to miners, and the current mania for so-called 'treasury' companies to buy-and-mothball BTC isn't helping. In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Zhibing 'Tony' Li, VP of Canaan Inc (NASDAQ: CAN), warned that miners 'need to evolve beyond the traditional hash-per-dollar model. As block rewards decline and difficulty rises, mining will face a structural shift. Transaction fees will take center stage, replacing block subsidies as the primary revenue stream.' That may be what miners need, but the current state of BTC offers no sign of this fee/reward flip happening anytime soon. Daily activity on BTC was struggling to stay above 300,000 transactions last week and has rallied only slightly this week. Further complicating matters are the economic tariffs that Trump has imposed on nearly all other countries since he took office. With the leading mining rig manufacturers all based outside the U.S.—primarily in China and other Southeast Asian countries—the costs of importing rigs have taken a big bite out of U.S. miners' margins. That latter category now includes American Bitcoin Corp (ABTC), the mining joint venture of the Trump family and miner Hut 8 (NASDAQ: HUT). But relief may be on the way, as Reuters offered an update on efforts by the three largest foreign manufacturers—Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT, collectively responsible for over 90% of mining rig production—to establish U.S. bases of operation and ensure a steady tariff-free flow of ASICs to U.S.-based miners. Bitmain began churning out rigs in the U.S. last December, while Canaan started a production trial in April. However, the company cautioned that there's some hesitancy in going full-bore given the mercurial nature of Trump's tariff approach. MicroBT has yet to announce any concrete plans but claims to be 'actively implementing a localization strategy in the U.S.' to minimize tariff impact. While this is music to most miners' ears, U.S. ASIC-maker Auradine, which counts U.S. mining giant MARA (NASDAQ: MARA) among its investors, has been lobbying the government to impose tougher restrictions on Chinese firms to 'strengthen national security in critical infrastructure.' Shortly after Trump took his second oath of office, Auradine suggested 'implementing rigorous compliance standards for imported technology' and mandating 'cybersecurity assessments for foreign-made components in Bitcoin mining and electric grid management.' For what it's worth, Canaan's biz-dev VP Leo Wang rejected this alarmist national security view, telling Reuters that mining rigs 'are useless if not applied to Bitcoin mining.' Regardless, Auradine urged the president to 'expediently' reduce miners' reliance on Chinese vendors 'to ensure economic security.' Auradine also suggested 'expanded incentives, such as tax credits or direct subsidies,' should be offered to U.S. manufacturers (the suggested duration of this proposed corporate welfare went unstated). France rejects (for now) state-run mining Miners rejoiced as Trump made good on his 2024 campaign pledge to loosen environmental restrictions on power generation to ensure America becomes 'the world's undisputed Bitcoin mining powerhouse.' As production costs rise, ensuring access to cheap and plentiful energy can make the difference between profit and loss. Pakistan recently announced plans to reallocate its surplus energy—largely due to Pakistani households going off-grid by deploying cheap solar panels from China—toward mining BTC and powering AI data centers. Other countries have encouraged similar efforts in regions where power is plentiful and demand is slack. But not every country is ready to hop on this bandwagon. France, which has an extensive nuclear power program that generates more power than the country requires, recently entertained a proposal in its National Assembly to study the possibility of devoting some surplus energy to mining BTC. Despite the promise of the state generating additional revenue by launching a state-run mining operation, the proposal was rejected by the National Assembly this week. However, the rejection was not based on the proposal's merits but on procedural grounds (the language was deemed overly broad and unrelated to the legislation it attempted to piggyback). So this proposal may come up again soon, as France's energy surplus isn't going away. And without any other serious solutions on offer, why not choose a path that allows the country to generate revenue? Back to the top ↑ Russia Russia Russia Russia is a country that is lousy with gas and oil, but its creaky electricity grids are routinely teetering on the brink, so much so that the government has imposed both seasonal and geographic restrictions on BTC mining operations in recent years. In February, Russia launched a mandatory registry for mining gear and ordered miners to report their earnings to the Federal Tax Service. However, the TASS news agency reported this week that only 30% of Russian miners have bothered to sign up for the registry, leading Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov to quip that roughly two-thirds of miners need to be 'cleaned up.' Russia has attempted to deal with its recalcitrant miners by drawing up new financial penalties for failing to abide by the rules. This month, the Ministry of Digital Development announced plans to impose new fines of up to RUB 2 million (US$25,500) for companies and RUB 200,000 for individuals. In May, Russia's Ministry of Energy mulled offering registered miners incentives to relocate their operations to the country's northern regions, where the sparse population offers greater grid flexibility. Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak noted that the region was dotted with power centers that once served oil production facilities, but these oil fields are now tapped out, leaving an energy surplus that he believed could be of use to BTC miners. As Russia tries to rein in mining excesses, illegal mining operators are getting creative to frustrate the authorities' efforts. Last week, TASS reported that authorities in the Buryatia region had busted an illegal mining operation being run out of the back of a tractor truck. A routine inspection by local officials discovered 95 mining rigs hooked up to 'a transformer substation capable of providing power to a small settlement.' Two suspects believed to be running this operation fled in an SUV. The authorities said it was the sixth case of 'electricity theft using mining equipment' in Buryatia since the seasonal restrictions were imposed. Back to the top ↑ xAI slammed for passing gas in Memphis A new study claims the electricity demands of AI large language models (LLMs) will account for 49% of global data center power usage by the end of this year, dethroning BTC miners as the preeminent power-hoovering technology. That said, since so many miners have 'pivoted' to the more reliable revenue streams that AI and other high-performance computing (HPC) tasks provide, they're not exactly off the hook just yet. AI's insatiable energy demands have been credited with driving the rush by AI developers, including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Meta (NASDAQ: META), and others to sign nuclear power deals to ensure their LLMs don't lose ground to more reliably-powered competitors. Enter Elon Musk, who in 2021 famously halted customers' ability to buy Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) vehicles with BTC due to the blockchain's high energy demands and reliance on fossil fuels. Fast forward to 2025, and Musk is being threatened with a lawsuit for allegedly hiding the dirty energy powering his xAI LLM. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed a remarkable letter detailing its evidence of the more than two dozen allegedly unauthorized methane gas turbines in action at xAI's 'Colossus' data center in South Memphis, Tennessee. The letter features aerial thermal imagery of the data center's turbines, which the SELC claims are on pace to emit 'more than 2,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides' annually. The turbines were originally installed under what local authorities claim was a '364-day exemption' from having to obtain the necessary permits. The SELC says these same authorities have yet to produce any documentation explaining the rationale behind this claim. The letter gives xAI 60 days to rectify the situation—aka shut down the turbines—or the SELC will sue the company in federal court on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for violating the Clean Air Act. Neither xAI nor Musk have yet to publicly respond to the SELC letter, but given that xAI is building a second, even larger data center in the Memphis area, let's just say this was probably a really bad time for Elon to have had a very public bust-up with the fossil-fuel loving president. Back to the top ↑ Bitdeer borrows, investors punish U.S. miners have been taking on significant debt of late as they try to (a) leap ahead of rivals' ability to mine new blocks, (b) diversify their operations into data centers for AI/HPC tasks, and (c) buy BTC tokens for their treasuries. After turning in a somewhat grim Q1 earnings report, Bitdeer (NASDAQ: BTDR) announced this week that it was looking to raise $300 million, then upsized that total to $330 million the following day, with a possible further boost to $363 million. The company said it will use the proceeds to pay the costs associated with raising new debt, expanding its data center operations, developing new ASIC rigs, and other general expenses. Investors gave an emphatic thumbs-down to the news, pushing Bitdeer's share price down from nearly $13 to $11.50 on Tuesday. The shares staged a minor rally Wednesday but ultimately closed down more than 7% to $11.80. One can't help but wonder if Bitdeer had, like so many of its peers, claimed that it was raising hundreds of millions of dollars in new debt to buy BTC that it would park in some cold wallet and hope for a major appreciation down the road, would its share price have risen? We suspect it would. If you wanted a more damning indictment of the overall mining sector, you couldn't do much better. Back to the top ↑ Watch | Bitcoin mining in 2025: Is it still worth it? title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Daily Mail
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE We sold our home to travel the world in a lavish $1 million RV... here's the truth of the experience
A couple who sold their home and quit their jobs to travel the world in a luxurious $1 million RV has lifted a lid on the highs - and lows - of their nomadic lifestyle. Kris, 58, and Hillary, 37, from North Carolina, both spent years working 'traditional jobs' in the healthcare tech industry.
Daily Mail
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Plane passenger's 'disgusting' habit mid-flight sparks fierce outrage
A woman on a recent Delta flight horrified fellow passengers after propping her bare feet without socks on the TV screen in front of her. Someone else on the flight snapped a photo of the bizarre and unhygienic moment and shared it to Reddit, where it quickly went viral. 'Jesus Christ…' they captioned the post, adding: 'Do I even need to say anything?' Though it's unclear whether she was using her toes to actually interact with the screen, the image showed her shoe and sock-less feet pressed against the in-flight entertainment system. It sparked widespread disgust online and reignited debates about personal space and airplane etiquette. The poster later responded to a comment, saying: 'She had them on the wall first and I was like, [What the f**k], but OK." Now they're on the goddamn touchscreen. Come on.' Some comments read: 'People are so disgusting,' 'Gross,' and, 'Flight attendants really need to start saying something.' 'I never wear shorts, short sleeve shorts, flip flops, or open-toe shoes on a plane... Ever... they are so incredibly dirty,' one user said. 'The bare feet people on planes is just gross… especially when they stick them on things,' another wrote. 'I can smell this photo. I'd be so upset if I had to sit near this,' a different user expressed. 'Where are the flight attendants? Did anyone complain?' someone else asked. 'Ewww no one wants to see toes in the air,' one person admitted. Someone else wrote: 'Absolutely THE F**K not. Why are grown adults so gross?!?!' 'Do flight attendants just not want to get into a fight or what? [In my opinion], it's perfectly reasonable to ask her to keep her feet off the... screen,' another user explained. Recently, insiders exclusively revealed to the Daily Mail the absolute worst ways vacationers can behave, from forcing other tourists to swap seats with them against their will to cutting their toenails onboard. The worldwide baggage shipping company Luggage Forward conducted a study of airplane etiquette preferences and found the worst offenders (in order) were talking loudly on a plane, playing a video or music without headphones, eating smelly food, taking off your shoes, and using both armrests. There are also massive personal grooming mistakes people make while flying, etiquette expert Genevieve 'Jenny' Dreizen, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, told the Daily Mail. One no-no is people toenail clipping or in-flight manicures, which Dreizen fittingly described as 'deeply unhygienic and very disruptive.' And no matter how comfortable it may seem, keep those shoes on. Dreizen believes that everyone 'should attempt to keep their shoes on for safety reasons because on a typical flight, there's really no need to take them off.' 'No bare feet on the seats or in the aisle, ever,' Dreizen said, adding, 'It's a plane, not your living room.'
