South Africa: OR Tambo International Airport cuts rate of "mishandled" baggage

According to a recent statement from Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), the operator of South Africa's main airports has made significant improvements to support, coordinate and oversee baggage handling operations at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

• In 2009, 18.65 bags per 1 000 departing passengers were mishandled at OR Tambo International Airport. This has dropped to 9.79 per 1 000 departing passengers in 2013 due to a multi-million rand investment in the latest technology to improve baggage handling and management.
• Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town and King Shaka International Airport in Durban have consistently performed at levels below four bags per 1 000 passengers.
• The higher number at OR Tambo International Airport is the result of about one fifth of the airport’s traffic being connecting traffic. This is seen as one of the major contributors to mishandled bags around the world.

ACSA's international general manager Tebogo Mekgoe said in the statement that compared to global averages provided by Sita Worldtracer, OR Tambo International Airport's baggage management statistics are "faring competitively". Sita Worldtracer reported global mishandling rates at 11.39 bags mishandled per 1 000 passengers in 2009, improving to 8.83 in 2012.

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