Ink Innovation earns BIX Ready recognition following a successful joint project with Luggage Logistics, demonstrating how baggage photos and location data can help airlines and ground handlers identify and trace checked bags.
Macao, China, 29 October 2026 – Ink Innovation has received BIX Ready Certificate of Recognition from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for its demonstrated capability to process, exchange and support electronic baggage messages in accordance with the latest Baggage Information Exchange (BIX) messaging standards.
Presented at the IATA World Passenger Symposium (WPS) in Macao, the recognition confirms Ink's readiness to support modern digital baggage messaging, enabling efficient, interoperable and standardised baggage data exchange across the air transport industry. It also acknowledges the company's commitment to advancing baggage messaging transformation and supporting industry best practices in baggage operations.
The recognition follows the successful completion of a joint project between Ink Innovation and Luggage Logistics. The two companies demonstrated how photographs of checked bags, their acceptance locations and flight details can be exchanged between airline departure control and baggage handling systems using IATA's BIX messaging.
For airlines, this could help solve a familiar operational problem: locating a checked bag when its owner fails to board. Ground handlers must identify and remove the bag before departure, sometimes searching through a full aircraft hold. Having a photograph of the bag available in the baggage reconciliation system can make identification easier and potentially reduce offloading delays.
From basic baggage messages to enriched information
The joint demonstration connected Ink's Departure Control and Delivery Management systems (DCS/DMS) and Luggage Logistics' Baggage Reconciliation and Management systems (BRS/BMS) through IATA's Baggage Community System (BCS).
At bag drop, a photograph and the geolocation of the acceptance point were captured alongside the passenger, flight and routing information. This record was exchanged between the two systems, with baggage status updates returned in real time.
The exchange used native BIX messaging throughout, without legacy Type B messages or converters.
Traditional baggage messages were designed to carry limited amounts of information. BIX enables systems to exchange richer data, including images and location details, using a common industry standard.
“This pilot validates the capability of BIX to support the exchange of richer baggage data and demonstrates how the Baggage Community System can operationalise that information across multiple stakeholders. The results reinforce the industry's vision of a connected baggage ecosystem with enhanced visibility, improved decision-making, and more efficient baggage handling,” commented Farnush Anwar, Senior Manager, Baggage Automation at IATA.
Beyond offloading, photographs and acceptance locations can also support baggage tracing and damage investigations, giving airlines and ground handlers a more complete record of each bag at the point of acceptance.
“BIX is as much a technology enabler as it is a messaging standard. When every system in the baggage journey shares one data model, a new capability only has to be built once to reach every partner, instead of being rebuilt for each connection. That shifts the industry's effort from integration to innovation,” said Ivan Jakovljevic, SVP Operations at Ink Innovation.
“BIX allows airlines, airports and ground handlers to exchange a level of data-rich content that legacy messaging could never support. Photos and location are simply where we chose to start. The real opportunity is the information the industry hasn't yet thought to share, and all of it can only improve how we track and handle passengers' luggage,” said Adam Dalby, CEO of Luggage Logistics.
IATA recognition and next steps
The completed joint testing covers baggage acceptance, supporting the tracking requirements of IATA Resolution 753. In the next phase, Ink Innovation and Luggage Logistics plan to extend the exchange to baggage loading and offloading, allowing confirmations to flow back to airline systems. Transfer and arrival events will follow.
The work also contributes to preparations for the planned January 2027 launch of IATA's BIX-based Baggage Community System, which is intended to support broader adoption of modern baggage messaging across the industry.
Ink is inviting airlines to participate in further work combining IATA Delivery on Orders with BIX messaging.
.avif)