By Soo KimShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberDelta Air Lines has introduced a new artificial intelligence–powered tool designed to make baggage delivery faster and more efficient, beginning with operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the airline’s largest hub.
A platform known as Baggage AI assists ramp crews by identifying the most urgent bags and mapping out the fastest route across the airfield. “The platform, Baggage AI, delivers an optimized driving route, ensuring as many customers’ bags as possible make their flights,” Delta said in a statement.
Using the new software installed on ramp agents’ mobile devices, the system assigns each bag to individual drivers, prioritizing those with the tightest flight connections. It also provides turn-by-turn routing on the airfield to help ramp crews deliver luggage as quickly as possible.
Ramp agent Michael Davis, an 11-year Delta employee, played a key role in launching the tool. “AI puts everything in order for me, giving me the opportunity to prioritize which bags get delivered first,” Davis said.
Baggage AI has already improved luggage efficiency by 30 percent, resulting in more bags making their connections and fewer being temporarily misplaced, according to NBC’s Today program.
...Delta notes that during peak travel times such as Thanksgiving, the airline carries more than 380,000 bags per day, with more than 99 percent arriving on time. The carrier processes 127 million bags annually worldwide and maintains a lost-baggage rate of less than one percent, referring to bags that are temporarily rerouted, Today reports.
According to the show, Delta was expected to carry 6.5 million passengers over the Thanksgiving period. With 40 percent of Delta’s flights passing through Atlanta, the airline handles an average of 108,000 bags per day in the holiday season in Atlanta.
Richard Cox, Delta’s senior vice president–Airport Customer Service, told Today: “Think of it as a ride share-like app that optimizes routes for our baggage transfer drivers. So, think about tight connections, optimizing routes. We make sure that our customers can travel with peace of mind.”
According to Today, at Atlanta airport, 250 drivers race between 153 gates, all while navigating busy airfield traffic that includes catering trucks, fuel vehicles, and aircraft. Delta says that the AI system is designed to support workers, not replace them.
The show reports that Delta has not laid off—and does not plan to lay off—baggage handlers due to the new technology.
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