RFID In Aviation — The Next Boom Sector?

RFID had a varied year in 2006 with some sectors booming and others not gaining the expected momentum. One fast growing area is the aviation industry, which will use around 60 million tags in 2007. Lost baggage costs $2.5 billion per annum and increasingly airlines and airports need to show and be able to prove that baggage has been properly screened.

RFID is an extremely powerful enabling technology serving to improve security against terrorist attack, safety against general hazards, efficiency, error prevention and data capture and to remove tedious tasks. It can even create new earning streams where it makes tolling feasible without causing congestion and where airport "touch and go" cards offer new paid services without delays. RFID creates competitive advantages in many ways and in many locations that extend far beyond the tagging of baggage.

Andrew Price, RFID Manager at IATA, the airline trade association, supports this notion: "In the next few years the air industry will be tagging an ever higher proportion of its two billion bags yearly and it will use RFID in other new applications as well." Having developed business cases for several airports IATA has acquired unique knowledge of best-practice in implementing RFID tagging systems and the barriers to such implementation. Hear IATA, McCarran Airport and Shipcom Wireless present in the Aviation Track at the RFID Smart Labels USA 2007.

McCarran Airport in Las Vegas has the largest RFID project in the industry where all baggage is tagged through the screening process. David Bourgon of McCarran Airport explains why RFID was the only viable solution to McCarran's lost baggage problem and how the use of RFID has also enhanced customer services within the airport.

Shipcom Wireless, headed by John Shoemaker of Symbol and Matrix, explores the critical components of a successful RFID implementation in the aviation industry and explains how to achieve success in leveraging new RFID technology.

To find out more about RFID in Aviation attend RFID Smart Labels USA 2007 or see the "RFID in Airports and Airlines" report at www.idtechex.com