Yesterday the airport Paris-Orly experienced a sound failure baggage handling systemcreating a chaotic situation in broad daylight vacation departures.
According to France Bleu radio, the outage lasted three hours, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., affecting departures at terminal 3 and forcing baggage handlers to manually transport luggage to the planes. Some flights took off an hour late, but all passengers were able to fly to their destination. On the other hand, around 2,000 pieces of luggage (out of the approximately 50,000 pieces of luggage leaving Paris-Orly every day) missed their flight, recognized the operator Paris Aéroport, quoted by France Bleu. “It’s the principle of the grain of sand”: a simple breakdown causes major inconvenience for users, many of whom during this period.
Good morning. We regret this situation due to a computer failure that affected baggage handling operations this morning. The breakdown is resolved and all the teams are mobilized to process this luggage and allow the companies to transport it. Cordially.
— Paris Airport (@ParisAeroport) July 21, 2023
Are travelers likely to experience the same chaotic situation this summer as last summer? Where thousands of bags have been lost or misplaced due to staff shortages at European airports. Perhaps not in France, as airport operators have reinforced their teams, but the situation remains critical in the United Kingdom: “With air passenger levels projected close to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and numerous airport strikes expected this year alongside urgent staff shortages, it seems likely that the massive disruptions experienced at airports are only likely to continue before urgent changes are made to improve the situation.“, according to the British site MoneyTransfers.
Last year in the UK, 26 million pieces of luggage were mishandled, damaged or delayed, and 1.8 million permanently lost or stolen at UK airports. Based on the traffic growth rate in 2023, MoneyTransfers estimates that there will be approximately 13.27 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers.
