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Greetings from the Narita Airport email newsletter editorial office.
This month, we are going to take a look at the work of ground handlers who are in charge of loading check-in baggage onto the aircraft. I hope you read it through to the end. |
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What happens to baggage after it has been checked in? Behind the scenes of baggage loading! |
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Notice Regarding Mandatory Security Screening in Accordance with Amendments to Civil Aeronautics Act |
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Important: Notice Concerning COVID-19 (Subject to continuing changes) |
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Monthly Traffic Statistics (January 2022) |
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What happens to baggage after it has been checked in? Behind the scenes of baggage loading! |
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If you check in baggage at the counter when flying, you collect it at your arrival airport, right? Have you ever wondered what's going on behind the scenes so that the baggage gets on the right aircraft?
In this post, we are going to provide the answer to the question we often get asked, "What happens to my baggage after I check it in?" We slipped into the area where checked baggage is sorted and loaded into containers and talked to some of the ground handling staff (also known as ground handlers) who load baggage onto the aircraft day after day.
This is who I spoke to. |
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JAL Ground Service Co., Ltd.
Mr. Toshiaki Kobayashi |
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| Tell us about your work. |
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Ground handling work is diverse and includes aircraft pushback and marshaling, assisting engineers in the hangars and preparing aircraft cabins before departure.
I do one of those jobs and am in charge of baggage. I sort the baggage as it comes into the sorting area from the check-in counters and make sure that it is loaded into the correct containers. Those containers are then loaded onto aircraft and the baggage is collected by their owners at their destination airport. |
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| How many bags are handled each day? |
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Before COVID, about 7,000 were handled for international JAL flights each day and about 700 on domestic flights. At times, up to 400 pieces are loaded into 12 containers for a single flight.
In the baggage handling process, the range of activities is divided into unloading from the aircraft, loading onto containers, and transporting the containers and loading them onto the aircraft. The work is done efficiently and we monitor each other's progress and coordinate our efforts so that we can unload and load all of the baggage in the limited time available between the arrival of an aircraft and its subsequent departure. |
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| Tell us about the flow of activity from the moment the baggage is checked in to its loading onto the aircraft. |
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The baggage that is checked in is going to different destinations at different departure times. After it is checked in, it is tagged with a printed barcode and placed on the baggage handling system (BHS). It is then delivered to the different conveyor lines in the makeup area for each flight. |
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| Each makeup area has a makeup supervisor and a flight supervisor for each flight. The makeup area contains bags for all different flights so the flight supervisor identifies bags for their flight and supervises their loading into containers. The containers come in all different sizes depending on the type of aircraft. |
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Baggage must be loaded into the containers bearing the correct flight number and class among those lined up at the side of the makeup area. To ensure that this is done accurately, it is not just done manually, each piece of baggage and each container has a barcode which is scanned for identification.
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If the same barcode is read twice or if it is for a different flight, the reader will display an error message. Even if the baggage count is off by just one, the aircraft will not be able to leave so it must be accurate.
Containers are loaded separately by travel class to ensure that premium cabin class baggage is delivered first after arrival. |
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| The baggage is loaded onto the containers in this way and taken planeside during the time between the plane's arrival and subsequent departure. It is then loaded into an allocated place within the aircraft for transport to its destination. |
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| Does the timing between arrival and departure create difficulties? |
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| Sometimes there are more than 100 pieces of baggage to load into containers and there is not much time between arrival and departure. We must be careful and accurate but time is always a battle. It would be really great if everyone checked their baggage in early (laughs). |
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| What is the most important aspect of your work? |
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| To consider each piece of baggage as a customer and handle it carefully and to return the baggage to the customer in the state that it was in when checked in. When loading baggage, we handle it with great care and pay close attention to every detail such as placing fragile and soft items on top. |
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What did you think? At the end of the interview, I also asked about recommendations for using something to identify personal baggage, something that our readers have asked about. We were told that it was best to use something that was short and strong because of the possibility of the baggage getting caught in the mechanism and damaged. Seeing different baggage bearing the same type of scarf would make it look like the bags belong to a family and I here feel that it is nice that the customer can be visualized in this way even from behind the scenes.
This has been a rare glimpse behind the scenes of baggage loading. Next time you are checking in baggage at the airport, spare a thought for the ground handling staff working for transport of the baggage! |
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Notice Regarding Mandatory Security Screening in Accordance with Amendments to Civil Aeronautics Act |
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With the revision of the Civil Aeronautics Act, it will become mandatory to undergo a security check from March 10 2022.
Trespassing beyond security checkpoints without undergoing security screening is a violation of the Civil Aeronautics Act which may result in imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.
Security screening is conducted in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, please follow the instructions of security screeners or related personnel.
*Details |
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Important: Notice Concerning COVID-19 (Subject to continuing changes) |
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The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and other government agencies are working in conjunction with airport companies to detect and stop the spread of the virus at Narita Airport.
When coming to the airport, please observe and cooperate with the following.
*Details |
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| Thank you for reading to the end of this month's issue. Doing this interview gave us some idea of the bright side of ground handling. We hope that was the same for you too. We have more to come in future issues. See you next month! |
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