Airlines and airports delivered more bags back to passengers than ever before in 2016, as the rate of baggage mishandling fell to an all-time low.

According to the SITA Baggage Report 2017, which was released today, just 5.73 bags per thousand passengers were mishandled last year, down 12.3% from 2015 and the lowest level ever recorded.

This comes despite the fact that global air passenger numbers are higher than ever, reaching 3.77 billion in 2016. But improved processes and new technologies have helped reduce the rate of mishandled baggage by 70% since 2007.

By far the biggest cause of mishandling was transferring baggage between different aircraft or airlines, accounting for 47% of total incidents. Failure to load baggage onto a flight was the second highest caused (16%), followed by tagging errors (15%). But fortunately for passengers, more than three quarters (77%) of mishandled bags were only delayed. Sixteen percent were damaged and 7% were lost or stolen.

But all this could be about to change; a new IATA initiative will require all pieces of checked baggage to be tracked along every stage of their journey by June 2018. Bags will be recorded at four mandatory points: at check-in, aircraft loading, transfer, and delivery back to the passenger.

“It is frustrating for passengers and airlines when bags go missing but the days of not knowing where your bag is will soon to be a thing of the past. We are on the brink of a new era in airline baggage management because the world’s airlines are committing to track baggage throughout its journey,” said Ilya Gutlin, SITA’ president of Air Travel Solutions. “This requires data capture, management and sharing across airlines, airports and ground handlers giving a better view of where each piece of luggage is at every stage.”

As well as improving service to passengers, the new IATA system is aimed at reducing airline costs. SITA revealed that the global bill for recovering and reuniting passengers with their bags was in excess of US$2bn in 2016.