IATA: Decisive Step Forward In Adopting RAIN RFID In 2020


In May the IATA (International Air Transport Association) held its AGM meeting in Sydney, Australia where it voted to develop a standard for using RFID to track luggage to reduce mishandling baggage rates and increase accuracy. It expects to be ready to deploy the technology in all member airports worldwide in 2020.

According to the 2018 Baggage Report, as many as 5.75 bags per 1000 passengers were mishandled in 2017. Although this rate has dropped by 70% since 2007, the number of mishandled bags is still unacceptably high and cries out for immediate action.

The IATA Resolution 753 came into effect on 1st June 2018 and described minimum requirements to track the 4.65 billion bags per year.

The call for implementing RFID technology doesn’t come by surprise. Already in 2016 IATA predicted that real-time tracking of bags could save the air transport industry $3 billion over a period of 7 years. In fact, RAIN RFID for tracking airport baggage has been around since 2005 as it fulfills many key advantages over other possible technologies:

  • High reading performance
  • Relatively low infrastructure cost
  • Higher automation

Business cases by early adopters and leaders in using RAIN RFID for tracking their customers’ baggage Delta Airlines show the benefits and claim a 99% success rate. Other business cases also prove that the money saved by correct baggage handling is much greater than the cost invested in deploying RAIN RFID.

Times-7 Airport antennas are deployed in many airports around the world.

Since its inception, Times-7 has been part of real-time baggage tracking solutions in the aviation industry. Times-7 supports the largest System Integrators and airlines with our RFID expertise and reliable, high-performing airport antennas and portals for accurate baggage tracking. Today, Times-7 Airport antennas are deployed in many airports around the world.