Scotland’s busiest airport has warned of baggage delays for travellers this summer as a "huge effort" is made to tackle the problem.
It comes after bags went "missing" for days at a time last year, which the airport said is an issue that developed at major European hubs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, which is expected to welcome 15 million passengers this year, said delayed baggage incidents have risen from around ten a day to hundreds.
He said it is hoped passengers who have been parted with their luggage will wait no longer than two days and “hopefully within a day” this summer. The airport has moved to mitigate the problem with site partners.
Mr Dewar said: "Challenges, as always, this is really about working with our partners and making sure everyone understands what is coming at us. The handlers are key partners in all of this, we have on site Swissport, Menzies and WFS.
"We have had in recent years this really big new challenge with short ship bags, that’s where the bags don’t come on the same aircraft with the passenger and we have had this challenge of reuniting people."
He continued: "We have put a huge amount of effort into that. Swissport, and it’s just an example because all the handlers are doing similar, have now got a team of ten dedicated people to manage this.
"We’ve never seen anything like this before.
"For some reason since Covid we have seen this massive uplift in short ship bags coming from a lot of the airports but the big European hubs that have been particularly problematic.
"Of course that is a new area of work for people so we need to be resourced for it, so staffing levels in the handling but we have also invested in the facilities to make sure that we’ve got storage for hopefully a short number of hours while we process them, and the tech to get them away and off to their final destination and get them back reunited with their passengers as well.
"I would rather not have this problem. Clearly if you arrive without your bag it is frustrating but what we can say is we are very confident we will get that back very quickly and we won’t see anything like the big piles of bags we’ve had in previous years."
He added: "I can’t say there won’t be a repeat because the problems exist elsewhere, so it is the big hubs, the [European] airports missing people’s flights. We still expect and we are planning for larger than we would like levels of missed baggage.
"What we can promise is that the time between the bag arriving at Edinburgh Airport and getting it back to you will be much, much quicker than it was in the past, ideally no more than two days and hopefully within a day."
He also said recent ePassport issues which had been balmed for caused recent queues while not a "worry" should also be considered.
Mr Dewar also said there would be no change to security this summer, with "100ml rules remaining in place and large electricals to also be removed as usual".
Home buyers 'simply aren't ready to pay this premium' for heat pumps
Regulations banning the installation of oil and gas heating systems in new-build properties in Scotland will lead to fewer homes built at greater cost to developers and residents, industry experts have suggested.
Sector body Homes for Scotland, which represents organisations collectively delivering the majority of the country’s new homes of all tenures, has called for the launch of a public information campaign to make buyers and owners aware of the fundamental changes and potential costs associated with the New Build Heat Standards (NBHS) that came into force on April 1.
Scottish start-up sells £60,000 of plant pots at flower show after Dragon backing
A Scottish start-up saw an upsurge in sales after receiving a major accolade from investor Deborah Meaden, star of the BBC’s Dragons’ Den.
POTR, the company behind “the world’s first origami self-watering plant pot”, said its sales soared after it was named Sustainable Garden Product of the Year at the Chelsea Flower Show by The Royal Horticultural Society. It led to the company selling more than £60,000 worth of pots at the flower show, which runs over five days and ended last week.
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