Air France

One of the leading international scheduled carrier, Air France offers a duty-free service on long-haul flights (80 to 100 daily departures )..

The problem

Operated through a concession agreement, the duty-free organisation involves a lot of stakeholders. The concessionnaire warehouse and packing unit is located in the nearby of Charles-de-Gaulle airport and delivered to multiple handling companies in ORY and CDG. For the sole CDG airport, no less than 4 handling companies are involved, depending on the type of aircraft or destination. During their long-haul journey, aircarfts spend long hours in a variety of overseas airports. For those flights landing back in Paris very late at night or very early in the morning, duty-free trolleys can wait several hours in their respective galleys before being disembarked. As a result of this complex and long trolley cycle, Air France suffered from a high product loss ratio, that sometimes exceeded 10 % of sales turn-over during sensitive periods of the year.

The solution

AF and its concessionnaire Logair implemented the SafeTrolley™ system back in fall 2005. First positive effect came instantaneously : the loss ratio fell down by 50 % overnight. At the same time, they got a dedicated police force, the Gendarmerie du transport Aerien, involved in the new process. Sharing the safeTrolley™ data with the gendarmes considerably helped them conduct their investigation. A few month later, at 6:00 A.M. sharp in the morning, a coordinated raid in carefully spoted places led to the arrest of two dozens suspects and the seizure of hundredth of thousands euros worth of stolen duty-free products. The crackdown enjoyed a large media coverage, spreading the word that the game was over. Click on the left image to read the full report  from Frenc newspaper “Le Parisien” or watch the impressive images that appeared on French national TV network France 2. Be aware that both stories are in French language.