Emirates handles record-breaking baggage volumes with 99.9% success rate across global operations

Credit: Emirates

With global travel surging, Emirates has announced its busiest year for baggage handling, managing more than 2.8 million bags monthly between April 2024 and March 2025. That’s an average of 100,000 bags per day travelling from Dubai to 140 global destinations—a 3.7% increase on the previous year.

Details on Emirates baggage handling

Despite this complexity, Emirates has upheld a 99.9% baggage handling success rate from its Dubai hub, positioning it as the top-performing airline globally. The mishandling rate—defined as delayed, lost, or misplaced baggage—stands at just 1.4 per 1,000 bags, nearly 30 times lower than some competitors.

On a global scale, even when bags are unavoidably delayed, Emirates manages to reunite 91% with their owners within 72 hours. This is especially notable as Emirates specialises in international travel, where baggage journeys are longer and more complex than domestic operations.

The airline also leads in lost property recovery. In Dubai, 94% of valuable items—such as passports, wallets, and phones—left on aircraft or within Terminal 3 are recovered and returned to their owners within 60 minutes, thanks to a dedicated lost and found team.

In 2024, Emirates introduced Emirates Bag Connect, a digital tool accessible via the app and website that gives passengers end-to-end visibility of their luggage journey. Customers can now also track mishandled bag delivery across 80 stations in the network.

At Dubai International Airport, Emirates and dnata handle roughly 2,300 untagged bags monthly. Through proactive tracking, 80% are reunited with passengers before the flight departs, avoiding travel disruption.

When delays do occur, reasons range from torn-off tags to unavoidable disruptions like weather delays or medical emergencies on transfer flights. In such cases, Emirates’ systems—Dubai Airport’s Baggage Handling System, dnata’s Baggage Reconciliation System, and Emirates Bag Connect—work together to automatically reroute luggage to the next available flight.

This operational excellence stems from a multimillion-dollar investment in bespoke software and high-tech security scanning. A typical Emirates baggage journey may include touchpoints like porter trolleys, check-in agents, baggage belts, the central scanning facility (‘Boss Room’), and dnata baggage containers before being loaded onto aircraft.

Continuous innovation and team training underpin Emirates’ success. Staff undergo regular training—both virtual and manual—on systems and best practices. This, combined with seamless collaboration between Emirates, dnata, and Dubai Airports, supports the airline’s commitment to ensuring customers and their baggage always “fly better”.

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