Veteran Airline Executive Dirk-Jan Kanters Joins BagsID Network as Vice President of Business Development and Global Head of Airlines
After multiple successful positions leading baggage handling, operations and management for some of the world’s largest airlines, industry veteran Dirk-Jan “DJ” Kanters has joined BagsID Network as vice president of business development and global head of airlines. Previously with Etihad Airlines in Abu Dhabi and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in the Netherlands, where he served as baggage network manager and operational baggage manager, respectively, the opportunity meant a welcome return home to Schiphol where BagsID is headquartered.
Removing the impact of COVID-19 from the equation, the industry was and is gearing up to offer more flights to more destinations and serving more passengers. Because of this extra demand, and even without it, the industry has realized that baggage identification needs to evolve. Current methods such as barcodes are not accurate, and RFID is expensive and complicated to adopt. The industry has been demanding an innovation that will reduce costs while increasing efficiency. BagsID is delivering a SaaS solution to do just that – offering AI based baggage recognition and authentication with autonomous categorization, data extraction, bag biometrics, easy-to-integrate user interfaces, and interoperable connectivity.
“We are on a mission to change the way people travel and how airlines and airports operate. It’s a global innovation and we needed someone with global experience,” explained Marlon van der Meer, founder and CEO of BagsID Network. “With DJ’s extensive background in baggage handling for some of the world’s most notable airlines, the choice was easy. We look forward to his helping us propel BagsID into every major hub in the world.”
Until recently, DJ was also a voting member of the IATA Baggage Working Group (BWG), who BagsID is working closely with to ensure that the AI photo recognition baggage tracking technology not only complies with but exceeds industry regulations, standards and international conventions. These combined experiences made DJ the perfect candidate for this position, which will focus on how the BagsID system will become an advantage to airline operations. Benefits of the technology include reduction in baggage handling costs, improved accuracy, better utilization of baggage space above and below the wing, additional ancillary revenue streams and optimization of bag fees, reduction of environmental emissions through better fuel and flight efficiency, and more. Additionally, a tagless future will also improve sustainability by eliminating the estimated 50 tons of paper used and not recycled with current tracking systems – that’s a small forest, and a huge savings.
“I’ve focused my career on providing excellent baggage handling services to hundreds of thousands of passengers, across cultures, for recognizable airlines who demand nothing but the best,” explained DJ Kanters. “So, it was a natural progression to bring this experience to a company like BagsID who aims to reshape this important component of the industry through a completely new, innovative solution. I’m excited to be a part of this start-up level team and to help take the company to new heights.”
