Paragon ID partners with Air France for RFID luggage tags

The airline industry is preparing to carry more than 7.8 billion passengers per year.

Over the next few years it is expected that, due to the estimated growth in air traffic, the amount of baggage transported annually - which currently stands at 4.6 billion - will double.

As part of its resolution 753, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has decided to support the global deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) for baggage tracking. This resolution stipulates that passengers’ baggage must be tracked in real time across key points in the journey (at check-in, boarding, transfers and on arrival).

As a result, airlines have committed to replace, over the coming years, their current baggage tags with new ones integrating RFID technology.

The French airline has two key objectives in this project: Respond to customers' need for information about their luggage and offer them new services, and improve the identification rate and baggage tracking (punctuality, productivity), and thus reduce associated operating costs.

Following a tender process, Air France selected Paragon ID for the exclusive worldwide supply of its RFID luggage tags over an initial period of three years. Paragon ID's expertise in RFID tags, combining the technological know-how in the design of inlays with its expertise in the industrial processes for label manufacture at its site in Argent-sur-Sauldre, was key in meeting the quality and safety requirements set by Air France, the company said.

The antenna, specifically designed by Paragon ID in close collaboration with NXP semiconductors around their UCODE 8 chip, ensures optimal performance in the aviation sector. Special incisions also guarantee the label’s destruction after use or in case of attempted fraud.

In total, Paragon ID is expected to provide about 40 million RFID luggage tags per year to the airline. In addition, Paragon ID is studying the opportunity to supply RFID labels to Air France’s affiliated airlines within the Air-France KLM group or the Skyteam alliance.

Clem Garvey, CEO at Paragon ID said: ‘We are very proud to have been awarded this tender by Air France, one of the world’s leading airlines. Paragon ID has demonstrated its capacity to address the sector’s specific challenges and requirements. Thanks to our strong label-manufacturing history and our ability to innovate in RFID technologies and solutions, significantly enhanced by our merger with ASK in 2017, Paragon ID’s strategy of fulfilling its clients’ needs for increased security and traceability has never been more pertinent.’