Suitcases not found by passengers on the conveyor belt at the destination airport were returned to their owners on average 31 hours after the carrier was notified of the loss of baggage. However, about 200,000 pieces of baggage were irretrievably lost due to the fault of the airlines.
Losses of airlines due to passengers' baggage not delivered on time, according to SITA, amounted to about $2.5 billion in 2005. In total, in 2005, on average, every hundredth piece of baggage out of 3 billion accepted for carriage by airlines was lost worldwide. As AP reports, in 2004 the share of lost baggage in the total volume transported was 0.7%.
According to SITA experts, a number of factors influence the growth in the number of baggage lost by airlines: airports operating at maximum loads, an increase in the number of flights with transfers en route, and the introduction of stricter security measures at airports.