SriLankan commissions advanced Baggage Reconciliation System at BIA

SRILANKAN Airlines now has one of the most sophisticated Baggage Reconciliation Systems in the world at the Bandaranaike International Airport, with the commissioning of the Ultratrax 8.0 BRS Application together with MC9060G Scanners.

SriLankan Airlines is closely supporting the expansion and modernisation of the Bandaranaike International Airport by Airport & Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd.

Earlier this year we opened the new Serendib Business Class Lounge which has drawn excellent reviews from travellers for its modern amenities.

The installation of the new Baggage Reconciliation System is yet another such programme, Head of Service Delivery at SriLankan, Nigel OShea said.

The new baggage system supports SriLankans increased services through BIA. This year the airline continued to step up its operations, adding frequencies to a host of Middle Eastern, South Asian, Far Eastern and Southeast Asian destinations.

The number of flights to ten destinations in India alone will rise to nearly 90 per week by the end of 2005.

SriLankan offers rapid connections to 48 destinations in 27 countries throughout Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Far East, and prides itself on providing the shortest possible transit time through Colombo.

SriLankan has built up a reputation for punctuality, and won the award from Airbus Industries for the most reliable airline anywhere in the world to operate A330 aircraft.

The system, installed by Ultra Electronics of the UK with equipment from Symbol Technologies of Singapore, replaced the one that was installed in 2000, which was becoming obsolete.

The scanners wireless connectivity allows employees to pinpoint exact locations of any piece of baggage at any time. The scanners are extremely durable, allowing them to be used in harsh weather conditions.

BIA is the second airport in the world to have this comprehensive Ultratrax 8.0 system, with only Terminal Five at London Heathrow having it up to now, said Thangavelu Mahendran, Manager IT Business Systems, whose team handled the project. We are proud to say that SriLankan is using such an advanced system, with which we are now ready for the next 4-5 years of expansion at BIA.

The new system is more proactive and prompts the user on what he has to do. It has 18 scanners that are used to scan baggage, which have increased functionality, with enhanced functions on the hand-held units.

We can even use the scanners on the Apron itself, so bags in transit can be sent directly from one aircraft to another, although we are waiting for construction work at the airport to end before doing that, said Mahendran.

We also upgraded the back-end server, so everything has changed scanners, software, servers, etc. Its a technological leap forward.