North Carolina airport Charlotte Douglas International has announced the opening of a new $11 million baggage transfer facility, aimed at cutting down on lost luggage.
American Airlines oversaw the opening of the facility, housed in a standalone building on concourse E, along with its regional carrier Piedmont Airlines.
“Bags can always get misplaced, but because of the new tracking ability we have a better idea of where they are, whereas when they were out (on the tarmac), you didn’t really know if your bag was even out there or not,” said Patrick Wegmiller, senior manager of Piedmont customer operations.
Under the new system, luggage is tracked using the barcode on its tag, determining which belt the bag should go on to take it to its eventual bag room, airplane or other destination.
This is especially important at Charlotte Douglas because 80 per cent of the passengers using the airport are changing planes, said director of Piedmont Operations Hubs Jeff Garver.
The facility is set to handle around a third of the 50,000 bags that pass through Charlotte Douglas every day, said Earnest Taylor, director of Piedmont operations for CLT.
Piedmont and American Airlines both pointed to employee conditions and the ability to keep bags out of the elements as further reasons to build the facility.
