The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has put in place plans to enforce the use of Radio Frequency Identification, RFID, luggage monitoring equipment in Nigerian airports.
The action is in the regulator’s attempt in tackling the rising incidences of delayed, misplaced and mishandled baggage at the domestic and international terminals, reports Sunday Vanguard.
Replacing the conventional barcode framework, the automated system will allow airlines and passengers to follow checked baggage in real time from check-in to ultimate reclaim, without the need for a direct line of sight.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement forum held at the NCAA Annex in Lagos, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, Mr Michael Achimugu said: “For many years now, one of the biggest complaints in the industry has been that of baggage, it is either passengers’ bags have been short-landed, missing, lost or destroyed.
“Baggage is the second biggest problem after delayed flights. What we decided to do is to improve the system by automating it. Now we are looking to deploy RFID technology to replace the technology that is currently being used”. Standard airline regulations provide domestic travellers up to seven days to locate and settle missing luggage. RFID tracking allows the instant location of missing or misrouted luggage. Even once you’ve boarded you can check to make sure your bag is on that aircraft.
And if, for some unforeseeable event, your bag has not landed with you, you can tell, even without complaining to the airline, where your bag is. So when you call to complain, you may say clearly that you have landed in Lagos but your suitcase is in Enugu.” Download Interactive Geographic Maps
Traditional barcodes also require ground handlers to manually align a laser scanner with a printed paper tag on each piece of luggage, the NCAA said. If a tag is bent, ripped, soiled or otherwise obscured, the scanner may not read it.
RFID tags, conversely, contain a tiny microprocessor and antenna that emit position data by radio waves. With scanners you can read many tags at the same time, throughout containers, luggage belts and cargo holds, without the necessity for line-of-sight.
While the technical implementation is being driven in collaboration with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, the NCAA is currently reviewing civil aviation regulations to make automated RFID tracking mandatory for all airlines operating in Nigerian airspace.
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