This Japanese airport has not lost a single piece of baggage since it opened 30 years ago

If you are a person who loves to travel or even a frequent traveller against your will, losing your luggage once you land in a different country or even a city away from home can be an incredibly frustrating experience. However, an airport in Japan claims that it has not misplaced even a single piece of luggage in its 30-year history. 

In a press statement, Japan’s seventh busiest airport Kansai International Airport located in the city of Osaka, said that it has not lost a single piece of baggage since it opened in 1994. 

“We believe that the record of having no baggage lost since the opening of the airport is the result of the daily efforts and careful work of everyone involved, including airlines and handling companies,” said the airport which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in September this year. 

The airport, last month, was crowned as the World’s Best Airport for Baggage Delivery, by the United Kingdom-based airline and airport rating website, Skytrax for the eighth time. 

According to reports, the airport serves 28 million passengers in a year and in the last financial year it handled about 10 million baggage items. 

“We don’t feel like we have been doing something special,” Kenji Takanishi, a public relations officer for Kansai, told CNN.

He added, “We have been working as we normally do. We only do our work on a daily basis and we are recognized for it. We are certainly happy to receive the award. I think our staff, especially those working on the ground, feel more pleased.”

The airport also said that their staff or baggage handlers and ground staff have never lost a bag, and if any luggage does get lost on Kansai it is typically the fault of the individual airline. 

A report by Nikkei Asia has attributed this amazing feat by the airport to their multilayered system where at least two or three staffers check the number and types of bags for each plane.

Additionally, a manager for one of the airport’s operators, CKTS, told the weekly news magazine that they aim to get all the items to baggage claim within 15 minutes of arrival. They also have a manual describing rules specific to each airline in order to do this.