Johannesburg – The baggage sortation system in the domestic terminal at OR Tambo International Airport has malfunctioned over the past two days.
Passengers who can not locate their bags have been advised to contact their airline’s lost property office.
Commenting on the matter on Saturday, the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) said: “Ït would like to apologise to travellers for the inconvenience caused by the intermittent operation of the baggage sortation system in the domestic terminal at OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA), affecting travellers on the 22nd and 23rd December”.
ACSA added: “Due to this malfunction several bags could not be loaded onto the scheduled departing flights thereby resulting in passengers not receiving their baggage when they arrived at their destination airport.
“The bags have had to be sent on later flights, with airlines arranging to get these bags delivered to passengers, or passengers electing to return to the airport to collect their bags when they eventually do arrive.”
ACSA said technicians were working to resolve this issue.
“As of the evening of 23rd December the system has been stabilised, but further investigations and root cause analysis are in progress to implement a permanent fix,” ACSA said.
In response to the situation, ACSA said it was working in conjunction with Airlines and Ground Handling Companies to implement a manual contingency process.
ACSA said it will also be working with and supporting airlines to ensure that arrangements are made for bags to be reconciled with their owners.
ACSA advised travellers to arrive early at the airport to allow for sufficient time for passenger processing.
Passengers were also being requested to contact their airline’s lost property office for all baggage enquiries.
“Once again, ACSA sincerely apologises to our travellers and customers for the inconvenience caused, and thanks passengers and airlines for their patience and understanding during this disruption.”
