SINGAPORE - Changi Airport has a new tracking system to ensure that there are always enough baggage trolleys for travellers.

It is not a big problem now but, with the growing number of flights and a manpower crunch, automation is the way to go to ensure that service standards do not slip, Changi Airport Group's vice-president Albert Lim said on Wednesday (Dec 30).

With the new system, launched across all three terminals, ground supervisors are updated real-time on how many trolleys are available at each bay.

An alert is also sent before a flight arrives so that the bays can be replenished if necessary.

Before this, trolley retrievers simply parked a fixed number of trolleys at every station throughout the day regardless of anticipated demand.

They also had to patrol the terminals regularly to manually check supply at each parking bay.

Since the implementation of the automated system, the airport has achieved a 25 per cent man-hour saving.

Changi has also been able to increase the number of trolley parking bays from 50 to 70, making it more convenient for travellers to get them.

Mr Lim said: "Managing trolley operations across one million sq m of floor area for 150,000 passengers a day is a challenging task."

With automation, the airport is able to "ensure that trolleys are readily available for passengers at the right place and at the right time, and doing so in the most efficient manner".