L F Wade International Airport in Bermuda is the unlikely location for the launch of a new self-service electronic luggage tracing system by air industry technology firm SITA.

The airport is the first anywhere in the world to feature a system created by SITA for passengers to scan baggage claim tags and (hopefully) instantly discover where any lost baggage is located.

The idea is that a series of self-service kiosks in baggage halls will help reduce stress levels and queues at existing lost baggage desks.

Passengers scan the barcode contained on their baggage ticket and a screen will display the whereabouts of the baggage. The system then automatically registers that the baggage is lost and double-checks the passenger contact details in order to notify them when the baggage resurfaces.

The project is part of a wider overhaul of technology and facilities at L F Wade Airport by SITA.

Earlier this week Qantas introduced a pilot scheme to place RFID tags on luggage at Sydney Airport later this year.

NB: Clearly there are far worse places in the world to lose your baggage than Bermuda

British Airways is basking in the relative calm waters of reconvened talks with trade unions by launching upgraded in-flight web services on its business class-only route from London to New York.

The airline is hooking the announcement on giving passengers the ability to catch FIFA World Cup football and coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, although with England and the USA both exiting the South African finals and the famous grass court competition almost over, perhaps the timing is slightly off.

Nevertheless, Airbus A318s flying the route from London City Airport to JFK have upgraded their entertainment systems to allow users to access information about the destination, book chauffeurs, access concierge services, monitor news and sport and view guides to local events.

The system works by allowing users to patch in to the on-board system powered by SITA’s OnAir platform on their own smartphones to access services via a British Airways-hosted portal.

Meanwhile, American Airlines is to allow passengers at London Heathrow to use mobile boarding cards to clear security and pass through boarding gates.

The move is the first time outside of the US (which has allowed mobile boarding cards at 41 airports with AA services since 2008) that passengers will be able to check-in online and receive a 2D barcode to use with airport officials.

The technology will also allow passengers to check bags in at the terminal using the same barcode on mobile handsets.

The results of a new IT survey are being hailed as a sign the airline industry is emerging from the economic perils of the past two years with “growing optimism”.

The annual survey from airline and airport technology provider SITA says 56% of the 129 airlines around the world that responded to the poll would be increasing their IT spend in 2011, with 10% indicating a decrease and leaving 34% expecting no change to their existing commitments.

Main points coming from the report:

• Increase in spend coming largely from Asian airlines with 75% saying IT budgets will go up – European and North American carriers are below the global average.
• Operating spend on IT in 2010 is around 1.8% of revenue, flat on 2009.
• 40% of airlines have created a “virtual infrastructure environment” – 85% of the total expected by 2013.
• Four out of ten tickets sold directly to customers (26% web, 11% call centre, 4% interlining).
• Direct sales estimated to be 55% by 2013 (38% via the web).
• Agent-hosted check-in to drop from 51% to 29% by 2013.
• Mobile check-in expected to soar from 28% to 70% in 2013.
• One in five airlines have integrated social networking capability to their websites but 45% have no plans to so.
• Mobiles will become part of a “further distribution strategy” for 70% of airlines.
• 18% of airlines can currently sell tickets via a mobile device – 70% expected by 2013.
• Four in five airlines to offer mobile check-in by 2013.
• Three-quarters to have capability to issue mobile electronic boarding passes by 2013.
• By 2013 around 90% of airlines will have implemented one of three ancillary revenue opportunities via their websites (upsell, unbundle, non-air services).

The poll is carried out annually among senior IT personnel working within the top 200 passenger carriers. Of the 129 airlines that responded, 14% are classified as low cost carriers, 81% are full-service carriers, and 5% are charter carriers.

Technology at Johannesburg Airport in South Africa (OR Tambo) was upgraded last month to improve aircraft-to-ground crew communications.

The project was by carried out by airport and airline technology firm SITA and completed in time for the large increase in air traffic expected for South Africa’s main airport during the FIFA World Cup.

The upgrade centred on installing a VHF Digital Link station at Tambo to replace the existing VHF ACARS system – these provide the communication systems between pilots, ground crew and air traffic controllers.

VDL is a newer system backed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to dramatically increase capacity over old systems. In this case SITA says the new system will improve the bandwidth ten-fold.

One of the main reasons, of course, to massively improve the comms at Tambo is so that the giant Airbus A380 aircraft can operate in and out of the airport and surrounding airspace alongside other traffic.

The A380’s are “bandwidth-hungry”, says SITA, meaning the upgrade was needed in time for the World Cup as many of the airlines operating the aircraft plan to use them during the tournament on flights to South Africa.

Not least Lufthansa, which brought the German World Cup squad to Johannesburg earlier this week.

Air France is also operating A380s to SA during the World Cup.

Air transport technology provider SITA has unveiled a new global control and command structure, concentrated in two locations in Canada and Singapore.

The major undertaking sees the end of regional centres around the world to oversee the company’s systems used by 300 airports and 2,000 airlines.

SITA will effectively have two operations – Montreal and Singapore – running a 24-hour operation, a process, SITA says, which will allow problems to be handled more efficiently than before and give IT teams the ability to step in before issues spiral out of control.

SITA says the system works by using 10,000 routers at locations around the world to push information back to the two hubs, run through a deal with its network provider Orange Business Services.

The decision to use Montreal and Singapore is based on the idea of “following the sun” around the world, SITA says. Montreal, in particular, was also selected due to it being the headquarters of IATA and ICAO.

Services overseen from the two centres include:

• Airport check-in services
• Self-service web, kiosk and mobile applications
• Baggage management and tracking
• Passenger management solutions including reservations, inventory and ticketing
• Messaging and network operations

Consumers should get ready for a form of e-ticketing for airline bag fees, wi-fi service, lounge access and other ancillary services in 2010.

Travel industry tech folks, including ARC and Farelogix, say they are readying the behind-the-scenes technology that will enable consumers to purchase and print [or otherwise receive] coupons or electronic receipts for purchases of an array of add-on services.

It might work in a similar manner to the way consumers print — or opt to receive electronically — boarding passes for flight e-tickets.

At a meeting in Miami today, Dec. 9, about Farelogix’s rollout of its SPRK distribution and point of sale tool, Mike Premo, ARC’s vice president of marketing, sales and customer relations, says ARC will be transmitting Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMDs) for ancillary services through SPRK beginning in February.

What does this mean?

Consumers who book a bag fee or sign up before their flight for Internet access etc. through a travel agency or airline that’s hooked up to SPRK, will come to the airport armed with an e-ticket or coupon proving that they have pre-purchased the service.

This will change the way you do online pre-check-ins for flights. You won’t be just printing boarding passes, but may be printing other coupons as well for ancillary services, or perhaps everything will be consolidated into the boarding pass.

Other travel agencies which don’t use SPRK will get the capability to provide these services in advance, too, because ARC will begin offering EMDs for optional services through agencies’ global distributions beginning in the third quarter of 2010 and through the rest of that year, Premo says.

A remaining question is, however, how much of these ancillary service options will airlines want to make available to travel agencies, and to what extent will airlines want to keep this stuff exclusively on their own websites.

At any rate, the way consumers book a flight with all its add-ons will begin to change dramatically in 2010.

[Disclosure: This reporting was gathered on a press trip, with lodging and air paid by Farelogix.]

The world’s top airports spent 3.2% of their revenue on investment in software and hardware in 2008, a survey by aviation technology specialist SITA has found.

The figure is a decline of 0.3% on the previous year but is likely to be reversed considerably in 2010 as airports begin to invest heavily in passenger self check-in booths, RFID scanners and automated baggage drop zones.

Technology is expected to become an integral part of airport owner investment and development over the next three years, with a number of key areas taking the lion’s share of activity.

The survey was taken by 106 airport and airport groups around the world, representing 56 of the top 100 premises by revenue and passenger numbers.

The following stats indicate the number of airports with tech-led facilities:

• Common bag-drop locations – 12% today to 48% by 2012
• Automated boarding gates – 8% today to 42% by 2012
• Self-service kiosk for passenger transfer services – 11% today to 39 % by 2012
• Self service kiosk to report lost baggage – 5% today to 36% by 2012

SITA estimates the global airport technology industry is worth around $3 billion a year, and could grow significantly in the coming years as result of security and passenger requirements as well as ways of making the much-maligned airport experience more efficient.

Nearly half of the airports surveyed say they will be increasing their IT investment budget in 2010, with only 14% admitting to a decrease in spend.

Figures from the latest annual SITA report into passenger habits at six major airport hubs around the globe were released today and make interesting reading.

The study, SITA-Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service (PSS) Survey, examined a variety of factors which impact on the airport experience including web and self-service check-in, interaction with airlines via mobile and security issues.

The standout stats centre on the increased use of self-service check-in at the airports featured in the survey.

The six airports included:

• Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson
• Mumbai International
• Paris Charles de Gaulle
• Moscow Domodedovo
• Sao Paulo Guarulhos
• OR Tambo Johannesburg

Atlanta recorded a massive 84% of passengers on self-service check-in, almost twice the average (44%) across the six airports in the survey.

Overall there was a 20% increase across the six airports in self-service check-in.

The survey also found that almost 60% of passengers would be willing to give over confidential information to automated border control facilties (up from 49% in 2008) if it meant a speedier and more efficient passage through an airport.

Despite one in four passengers having ownership of a so-called smart phone, just 2% checked in with their handsets - although 45% said they would be willing to do so in the future.