Mishandled baggage rate almost doubled globally in 2022 as airlines scrambled after Covid

theguardian.com:

It was the year of “the summer of lost luggage”, in which travellers across the world told stories of disappearing bags as the aviation industry struggled to keep up with rebounding demand.

Now, newly collated statistics show the extent of the disruption: the rate of mishandled baggage almost doubled globally in 2022, with 26m pieces of luggage delayed, lost or damaged.

That mishandled luggage rate soared to 7.6 bags per 1,000 passengers in 2022, up from 4.35 in 2021 and 5.6 in 2019, according to the aviation data company SITA’s annual insights report.

For international flights, the mishandling rate was 19.3 bags per 1,000 passengers, more than eight times higher than the rate of 2.4 for domestic flights.

This was largely because flight transfers were more likely on international journeys, SITA’s chief executive, David Lavorel, said. Errors during flight transfers were the largest contributor to mishandled baggage in 2022, accounting for 42% of affected luggage.

Lavorel described the rise in mishandled baggage as an “exponential increase”.

“The swift comeback took the industry by surprise,” he said. This left ground handlers scrambling to navigate the surge in traffic with reduced staff, he said.

There were 3.42 billion air passengers in 2022, up from 2.28 billion in 2021 but still down from the pre-pandemic peak of 4.54 billion in 2019.

Nicole Hogg, a baggage expert with SITA, said a less favourable consequence of the return of air travel was the emergence of “baggage mountains”.

“The sudden influx of travellers caught the industry off guard, resulting in global issues and significant disruptions from Europe to Australia and the Americas.”

Mishandling rates were considerably worse for airlines operating in Europe, with a rate of