There are approximately 4,200 lost bags waiting to be reunited with their owns at Dublin Airport, an Oireachtas Committee has been told.
Representatives from daa, Aer Lingus, and baggage-handling companies Swissport and Sky Handling Partners (SHP) appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee on Tuesday morning. Sky Handling Partners are responsible for 2,897 of the bags, and managing director Darren Moloney told the Committee they can process approximately 350 bags per day but are receiving an additional 270 new bags arriving daily.
Meanwhile Aer Lingus has around 1,200 lost bags at the airport, with the ability to process 700 bags daily and around 450 new bags arriving each day, the committee heard. Tony Tully, ground handler Swissport's director of ground operations in the UK and Ireland, told the committee they had "less than 100" passengers waiting to receive their luggage from Dublin Airport. He said they expect the majority of these to be returned within a week.
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Managing director of SHP Darren Moloney admitted that their standards "have simply not returned to pre-pandemic levels". Mr Moloney said that because of baggage’s "position at the end of the process, it’s often the baggage handlers who have to absorb the knock-on effects of delays further up the chain, so that they’re already facing a delay before they get to start on their part".
He added: “This isn’t to deflect blame on any one party but to be a reminder that aviation can be viewed as an ecosystem where delays in one part combine and escalate to cause delays in another part. It’s not just about how quickly baggage is loaded on and off the aircraft.”
He said that the company has opened a "secure landside location" beside Terminals 1 and 2, to process luggage. At the meeting, Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison said they are "quite confident at maintaining the level of service that we’re delivering at the moment."
Mr Harrison said that during the month of July so far, more than 95% of all passengers have passed through security in under 45 minutes, while more than 85% of passengers have queued for 30 minutes or less. He added that 150 security officers have been recruited since June.
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