Monday, August 21, 2000 Home > National > Article

Baggage breakdown stalls flights

By ROBERT WAINWRIGHT, Transport Writer

More than 6,000 passengers on at least 27 international flights carrying as many as 12,000 bags were delayed at Sydney's International Terminal yesterday by one of the worst and most embarrassing breakdowns of the accident-prone, $43 million baggage system.

At the height of a three-hour drama, which began about 7am, frustrated and amazed passengers watched check-in staff of at least one airline load bags on hired trucks parked among taxis at the terminal entrance.

A fire alarm, unrelated to the baggage system, went off during the breakdown, bringing a fire engine and further confusing passengers trying to check in.

The breakdown was the latest in a series of bungles since the new system was brought on line about three months ago.

The worst was an 11-hour breakdown on June 2 which delayed about 50 international departures and caused 2,000 bags to be left behind.

There have been at least five breakdowns this month despite promises by Sydney Airport officials - who have constantly rejected criticism and decried media attention - that it would be fixed by the end of last month.

A spokesman said the problem caused an average 10-minute delay and insisted that only 17 bags were left behind.

However, his statement contradicted estimates by airlines and workers who said at least 200 bags, and possibly hundreds more, were left behind or wrongly tagged. They said the delays for 14 Qantas and 13 foreign carriers were up to 80 minutes.

"A back-up system was immediately activated to allow processing of outbound baggage to continue throughout the morning," the Airports Corporation spokesman said.

"Sydney Airports Corporation [SACL] has now identified the fault as a computer database problem associated with implementation of the new baggage security system which is required for the Olympic Games. Remedial action is now under way to repair the fault.

"While the fault was disappointing, it showed the back-up procedures for the airport's baggage system operate successfully," the SACL spokesman said.

But baggage handlers, who say they and airlines have unfairly shouldered much of the public blame for breakdowns in recent months, had a different story.

"It has been hell out here," one handler said. "When the system went down at 7am they tried to tell us it would be fixed within 10 minutes. Nothing happened for two hours. Just after 9am they said it was OK, and it wasn't. We had to shut it down again for nearly an hour.

"We keep being abused for daring to criticise or warn SACL that they have problems and need people on hand in case something breaks down. Their assurances are worth nothing, and if they don't start listening, then the Olympics are going to be even worse. We are rapidly becoming an international joke."

The chief executive of the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, Mr Warren Bennett, said the Sydney Airports Corporation had told airlines at a meeting last week that the software problems had been fixed.

Mr Bennett, who was not aware of yesterday's debacle, said airlines remained concerned about problems that might occur during the peak Olympic demand period.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0008/21/national/national1.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 20, 2000

Answers

Sydney airport suffers second technical glitch in five days

SYDNEY Sydney airport's troubled A43m baggage system suffered its second glitch in five days yesterday, less than a month from the Olympic Games. Flights were delayed up to four hours following a technical fault in the computer system, Sydney Airports Corporation spokesman Eric Aubert said. Up to 20 flights were affected.

On Wednesday, a breakdown in the new bag screening system delayed four outbound flights by 15 minutes each. Sapa-AP.

http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/0,3523,681801-6078-0,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 21, 2000.