TMCnet News
Revenues from RFID-Based Airline Baggage Handling Will More than Double by 2011, Says ABI ResearchNEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has the potential to streamline and improve airline baggage handling, especially in this time of heightened security measures. Trials and pilots continue, but they have not yet answered the question: when will RFID baggage handling reach a critical mass? However an indication of the growth expected from this sector is contained in a new ABI Research study that concentrates on emerging RFID applications in the airline industry as well as in the postal and courier industries. According to the research, the overall systems revenue for RFID airline baggage handling will be $11.8 million this year, growing to almost $27.5 million in 2011, a CAGR of 18.49%. International air travel is up, but the US domestic market is flat. "Cash-strapped US airlines have been more reluctant than their overseas counterparts to invest in RFID," says research analyst Robert Foppiani, "although they express interest for the future. One of the barriers to adoption of RFID for airline baggage tagging has been the tag price. Because the tags must be disposable, they must be cheap." In the United States, the majority of baggage handling is the domain of the airlines themselves. In contrast, overseas airport operators tend to provide unified baggage handling systems for all the airlines they serve. So who will pay for RFID: airlines or airports? Another obstacle is the legacy barcode tracking infrastructure used by airlines around the world. While less flexible than RFID, it is well-entrenched and works most of the time. Trials exist or are planned in a number of cities, including Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Narita, and Qatar. Air France-KLM is conducting a joint trial at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Schiphol airports, and South Korean carrier Asiana has run a domestic six-city pilot. Symbol Technologies' tags and readers are being used in the majority of these trials, along with RFID chips from Impinj. "In general," says Foppiani, "specific country markets within Europe and Asia will lead the charge; Asia's less efficient barcode systems are ripe for replacement, and Europe has many transit hubs - cities catering to large numbers of inter-flight transfers." The new ABI Research study, "RFID in Emerging Transportation Markets" (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_research/ The_RFID_Transportation_Market) explores RFID's use in airline baggage handling systems in particular depth. Applications in the parcel and postal industries are also examined, including asset tracking and item-level tagging of all small packages and letters. The report is available alone or as part of the subscription RFID Research Service (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/RFID_Research_Service). Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations supporting annual research programs, intelligence services and market reports in broadband and multimedia, RFID and M2M, wireless connectivity, mobile wireless, transportation, and emerging technologies. For information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500. |
