Chongqing's Jiangbei International Airport has adopted a baggage sorting system that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, the first airport in the country to do so, according to media reports.

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport’s RFID baggage sorting system is labor-saving and highly efficient. [Photo by Li Bin/xinhuanet.com]

The system, developed by Chongqing MicroID Technology Ltd in Liangjiang New Area, has improved the accuracy rate of baggage recognition from around 90 percent to 99 percents.

The RFID reader can easily recognize items with built-in chips, reducing time and cost compared with other methods such as bar code scanning, according to Duan Wenbin, founder of the company.

"Traditionally in the supermarket, the cashiers scan the bar codes on the purchased goods piece by piece. Once the bar code is crumpled or damaged, it will take more time. With an RFID chip, which is not easily damaged, there is a higher recognition rate and it's more labor-saving."

During the Spring Festival holiday, less than one percent of the passengers lost their baggage and it took less than two minutes to finish unloading the baggage of one plane, five times faster than before.

Before Chongqing airport decided to adopt the MicroID’s system, it tested it with 60,000 pieces of baggage with a recognition rate of more than 99.5 percent.

The RFID baggage sorting system is likely to be applied in more new airports to be built in Beijing, Chengdu and Kunming, sources said.