eBC program
The new eBC (enhanced Baggage Capabilities) program will move the industry to a point where a common set of capabilities enables airlines to work together to address both mishandling and irregular operations (IrOps). It has the following 5 areas of focus:
- Baggage tracking (linked to the implementation of IATA Resolution 753)
- Baggage XML messaging
- Automated back office processes
- Data sharing
- Baggage identification
StB Baggage Projects
The Global Baggage Operations Team is contributing to the
StB Program the following 2 projects:
Current Project: Baggage XML
The aim of the Baggage XML project is to focus on standardizing the data and the interfaces, by leveraging XML technology as well as redefining the overall information exchange architecture.
The project has adopted a data model driven methodology leveraging the IATA Industry Data Model to ensure cross domain semantic alignment and interoperability. Baggage XML will modernize current legacy standards. This will lead to better baggage performance and lower airline costs.
At the end of March 2017, the
PADIS board approved the baggage XML schema and a second pilot was conducted, as an integrated deployment, fed by production environment data and exchanging messages in XML.
New Idea: Baggage
The existing baggage infrastructure is at full capacity and no longer sufficient for future passenger volumes and customer expectations.
The current process takes a bag from point “A” to point “B” in a consistent and standardized way. For the passenger, the most important element is not that their bag is in the hold, but that their bag arrives at the predetermined place and time, as agreed.
Our vision is to re-invent the baggage process by providing real-time tracking and tracing, and robust identification. We can then change the model to ask ourselves: where should we collect from, how do we move the baggage and when should this be done, relative to the passenger's journey.
See the
StB white paper 2016 (pdf) for more information.
