Lewis Day Heathrow Flying High
Posted: 11 March, 2010
Lewis Day has installed pioneering new technology to help repair Heathrow's ailing lost luggage system.
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Ailsa Dixon, Skyport, Friday 5th March 2010
A courier company is hoping pioneering new technology will help to repair Heathrow's ailing lost luggage system.
Bosses at the airport branch of Lewis Day have ploughed thousands of pounds into a new computer tracking device which aims to resolve the baggage repatriation cock-up caused by the sudden departure of Menzies Aviation.
At the time the ground handling giant announced it was axing its repatriation service, it was responsible for returning an estimated 90 per cent of all lost luggage to passengers.
The firm's decision to pull out in the run up to the peak Christmas period left a handful of small subcontractors to pick up the pieces as Heathrow battled with some of the worst winter weather in decades.
Tony Clemants, business development manager for courier firm Lewis Day's Heathrow operations, explained: "It's no secret the system was at breaking point over Christmas.
"Firms that took on the contracts left by Menzies were simply not cut out for such a massive operation, so the bags were literally piling up.
"Menzies had a pretty good system in place to track the bags, but since they pulled out there has been no proper way to record the status of bags once they come off the aircraft.
"We're hoping the new IT link will change all that and finally get the baggage repatriation system back on track."
Menzies left a cut-throat contract war in its wake as its former subcontractors battled it out for replacement deals with the major airlines.
Lewis Day's rival Courier Systems was one of the firms that spied an opportunity for huge expansion in the market, winning several big contracts to provide baggage repatriation for airlines such as Virgin Atlantic.
But just months after going public with its ambitions, Courier Systems has announced it has decided to pull out of the market.
Ian Oliver, director of Courier Systems, explained: "For a number of reasons the baggage repatriation operation just wasn't fitting in, as we had hoped, with our other core businesses.
"We had to make a decision as to which direction we should go and decided to put all our focus into our courier and film operations and close the baggage repatriation operation."
Over at the opposition in the Green Lane trading estate, Lewis Day chiefs say the airlines are becoming increasingly frustrated by the services on offer.
In order to win more lucrative contracts, the firm has invested in new technology designed by former airport driver Peter Rose that allows the couriers to tap into the global lost luggage IT system, World Tracer.
Clemants added: "Until now, couriers have been unable to access the baggage database so once a bag is unloaded there is no way to prove where it has gone or who is responsible for it.
"Airlines were also having to hand write labels so every time.
"The new system should change all that, allowing us to automatically trace bags from the moment they are unloaded to the moment they are delivered to the passenger's home."
It is hoped that the system, which is now up and running, will allow bags to be processed more efficiently and more accurately.
Once scanned in, bags are then collected from the airlines, taken to the courier firm's warehouse for sorting and then dispatched to the passenger's homes up and down the country.
"It is a bit of a funny business, we rely on the fact airlines will lose bags. But someone has to do it, and we reckon with this system we will be able to do it better than anyone else."
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