The global aviation industry’s specialist IT and communications group, SITA, has reported that Africa is still the region with the highest rate of mishandling airline luggage. Its 'Baggage IT Insights Report 2026' showed that Africa experienced 12.1 mishandled bags per 1 000 passengers last year. This compared with rates of 10.5 for Europe, 5.6 for all the Americas, 5.0 for the Middle East, and 3.41 for the Asia-Pacific, and the global rate of 4.9.

Globally, the mishandled baggage rate fell by 23%, year-on-year, last year. In terms of the actual number of mishandled bags, that also fell year-on-year in 2025, by 19% (from 30-million bags in 2024 to 24-million in 2025).

But, when it came to the mishandled baggage rate on domestic flights, Africa ranked second best in the world, with 1.8 per 1 000 passengers, after the Asia-Pacific at 0.8. After Africa came North America, at 2.0, the Middle East (2.7), South America (2.9) and finally Europe (3.8). The global average was 1.65.

It was in international air travel that Africa scored poorly. Compared with a global average rate of 9.12 mishandled bags per 1 000 passengers, Africa had a rate of 15.0. The best scoring regions were the Asia-Pacific and Middle East, at 5.3 each, followed by South America (7.5), North America (11.6) and Europe (12.7).

SITA notes that, while the factors that resulted in mishandled baggage include older infrastructure and capacity pressures at airports, these are exacerbated by the number of connections that a passenger makes during travel. The more connections, and the tighter the connections, the higher the probability that baggage will be mishandled. This is why Europe scored so badly, with the many connections that had to be made in that region.

Mishandled baggage cost airlines. There were operational costs – the cost of getting the baggage back to the passenger – and compensation costs. SITA has calculated that each piece of mishandled luggage costs an airline $260. This figure is the global average. It actually varies from region to region, from a high of $295 in both North America and Europe, to a low of $210 in the Asia-Pacific.

The significance of these figures is brought home by the fact that the average net profit for airlines is just $8 per passenger. Just one piece of mishandled luggage could wipe out the profit generated by the sale of 30 seats. Five mishandled pieces of baggage could eradicate the profit of an entire flight.

The solution to the problem is end-to-end tracking, data-sharing, connected passenger services, biometric bag drops, and AI routing. However, the real key is not these individual technologies, but their connection and integration. This process is already underway. Industry-wide baggage tracking has now passed 50%, with 100% scheduled for next year, while 75% of airlines plan to invest in AI over the next two years, and 50% intend to give passengers real-time baggage updates. Africa has a particularly great opportunity to adopt these technologies and benefit from them.

“Airports are operating closer to their physical limits every year, and the answer isn’t always more concrete,” highlighted SITA CEO David Lavorel. “Data, AI and predictive operations let us get more out of the airports we already have, at check-in, security, the gate, on the apron and in baggage halls. Baggage shows the formula works. Solutions such as Total Airport Management take the same approach across the whole lifecycle, so airports can absorb growth without expanding their footprint.”