SITA and Airportr have signed a five-year service agreement that aims to revolutionize the experience of traveling with baggage. According to the SITA 2024 Passenger IT Insights report, nearly one-third of travellers globally would prefer to check in their baggage at the start of their journey and have it delivered directly to their destination, with significant interest in having their baggage picked up from their home or hotel.
This collaboration between SITA and Airportr, which already partners with major airlines including British Airways, easyJet, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, KLM, Edelweiss, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, and American Airlines, directly addresses these preferences, offering travellers a seamless and stress-free baggage handling experience.
Airportr’s baggage delivery services, approved by airlines and government authorities, allow passengers to check in their bags from homes, hotels, or mobility hubs and have them securely transported to their departure airport to be loaded onto flights to their final destinations.
This collaboration will ensure comprehensive baggage tracking by seamlessly integrating both companies’ data systems and providing full end-to-end visibility on baggage status, boosting efficiency for all stakeholders across a range of airlines. By reducing reliance on traditional airport infrastructure for bag tagging and processing, it will also help reduce queues and wait times at airport check-in desks, allowing passengers to move freely without the burden of carrying luggage, while alleviating anxieties surrounding mishandled baggage.
Sergio Colella, SITA European President said: “Passengers have spoken: they want to take the hassle out of baggage handling. More convenience, less queuing at check-in desks, more peace of mind as their baggage gets from point A to point B. And we’re listening. This partnership with Airportr shows our commitment to reimagining the passenger experience thanks to innovative tech, while helping airports and airlines streamline their operations. Together, we will lead the market in baggage delivery services and set new standards for the travel industry.”
Randel Darby, CEO and Founder of Airportr, added: “Through this partnership, two visionary companies in the travel space are coming together to transform baggage logistics with technology, to make travel more convenient, efficient, and passenger-centric. This partnership creates a powerful platform to accelerate global adoption of baggage delivery services by airlines, airports, and passengers.”
SITA will support Airportr operations with its cloud-based Flex platform and Bag Journey service, key technologies driving digital transformation in travel. With mobile and self-service check-ins, the Flex platform reduces reliance on fixed counters at airports while its open API architecture allows seamless integration of third-party services like that of Airportr.
SITA Bag Journey is a global baggage data repository offering real-time, end-to-end baggage tracking. Its APIs facilitate smooth integration with other applications, ensuring continuous availability of baggage status information as well as historical data.
Enriching SITA Bag Journey with Airportr’s data points will not only enhance tracking accuracy and provide end-to-end baggage tracking from off-airport locations natively within airline apps, but will also unlock opportunities for expanded baggage service offerings.
