Thousands of bags lost at Dublin Airport

DUBLIN: Thousands of bags have been lost at Dublin Airport, with 270 going missing every day. The revelations came at a hearing at the airport, which has struggled since the large-scale resumption of international travel earlier this year.

A representative of Sky Handling Partner (SHP) told committee chair Kieran O’Donnell that it would take at least 48 days for SHP to overcome the backlog. Another baggage handler at the airport, Swissport, was also found to have lost around 100 bags.

Aer Lingus, meanwhile, told the committee it currently has 1,200 “open files” related to missing baggage. None of these are directly related to the company and are lost when transferring from another airline to Aer Lingus. The company CEO Lynne Embleton said the problem was due to under-resourcing at airports in terms of ground handlers.

The committee was also informed that a “secure landside location” has been opened near Terminals 1 and 2 to facilitate processing of bags. Dublin Airport has said that it has made significant progress in reducing passenger waiting times.