Air Malta has topped the list of the Air Transport Users Council for baggage handling, according to a report issued by the council yesterday.
The 2006 report was compiled from figures released by the Association of European Airlines, comprising data gathered from 24 European carriers.
Air Malta had also topped the list for baggage delivery performance for January-March 2006. Yet this latest report confirms that Air Malta was the most efficient carrier throughout the whole year with a ratio of 4.4 missing bags per 1,000 passengers. The ratio is slightly up on the partial figures which were released earlier at 4.1 missing bags per 1,000 passengers.
Average baggage irregularities were measured at 15.7 missing bags per 1,000 passengers and the AEA noted that the great majority of missing bags were traced and delivered to their owners with a minimum of delay. The AEA says that 85 per cent of mishandled bags are returned to their passengers within 48 hours. That still works out at close to one million bags a year taking longer than two days to find their way to their owners. Some never get returned at all.
Turkish Airlines came in second place with 4.7 missing bags per 1,000 passengers and third place saw a substantial jump to 8.1 missing bags per 1,000 passengers for Air One.
Air Malta carried a total of 1,979,615 passengers which is a far cry from the largest carrier, Air France, with 55,148,558, which placed the airline as the 18th largest carrier out of the 24 under scrutiny.
In terms of passengers carried, Air Malta beat carriers such as Tarom, which incidentally came fourth in the baggage leader board with 842,092 passengers carried and 8.3 bags lost per 1,000 passengers; Adria Airways with 1,013,588 passengers and seventh on the board with 9.6 bags lost per 1,000 passengers; Iceland Air with 1,820,983 passengers and 9.8 bags lost per 1,000 passengers; Croatia Airlines with 1,569,433 passengers and 11.8 lost bags per 1,000 passengers and Lux Air with 551,696 passengers with 16.4 bags lost per 1,000 passengers carried.
The worst performers in terms of baggage handling were two of the largest carriers. British Airways came in last place with 23 lost bags per 1,000 passengers (45,554,351 passengers carried). TAP Air Portugal came in one before last with 21 bags lost per 1,000 passengers (7,463,113 total passengers).
Lufthansa with a massive 54,266,920 passengers carried, came in second before last for baggage handling with 18.1 bags lost per 1,000 passengers carried. An interesting fact is that the 24 airlines under review carried a total of 357,898,184 passengers. Six other AEA airlines (including the UK’s Virgin Atlantic and BMI) do not provide data for the reports. The AEA membership does not include major EU carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet.