Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 1, April 2009

News in brief

Chinese drive

SITA has formed a partnership with China's Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (GBIA) Computer Informatics Service Centre to bring SITA's AirportConnect Open common-use check-in systems and baggage management solutions to regional hubs in the country.

Aeroflot selects CHAMP

Aeroflot Cargo Airlines has announced a five-year deal with CHAMP Cargosystems for migration to the Cargospot system.

Aviacsa convenience

Mexican airline, Aviacsa, is now accepting payment for flights at 6,000 OXXO convenience stores. The payment alternative, provided on Aviacsa's website by SITA, allows online booking for those without a credit card.

Caribbean upgrade

Airports across the Caribbean are growing, with a widespread need for modernization. SITA is working with a number of authorities to improve asset tracking, reduce congestion and improve use of check-in positions and gates, and more. The case history is at www.sita.aero.

Saudi builds strategy with hybrid network

Saudi Arabian Airlines has signed a five-year, US$ 76 million contract for SITA to implement and maintain an advanced global communications and desktop infrastructure.
The hybrid network solution will facilitate the introduction of a broad range of new applications, including a new passenger management system.

New horizons for Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines has replaced its in-house reservations system with SITA's Passenger Services System as part of an IT-driven turnaround programme that has seen the Asian carrier return to profitability.

In a contract worth more than US$ 130 million over 10 years, SITA has so far implemented E-Ticketing and an upgraded Departure Control System, allowing new self-service options, including kiosk and Web check-in.

The airline's fares strategy has also been re-engineered including the provision of an easy-to-use Internet booking engine. SITA also helped to eliminate revenue leakage through an integrity and protection programme.

> Read the success story

SITA named Airport Service Provider of the year

SITA has been named as Airport Support Service Provider of the Year, at the 2009 Asia Pacific Frost & Sullivan Aerospace & Defence Awards. SITA was identified as a trusted IT services provider for over 120 airports and 260 airlines in Asia Pacific.

Frost & Sullivan quantified several market factors for the service providers, paying close attention to the balance of their operational performance, efficiency, quality of products and services and business strategies. This process included interviews with service provider officials, customers and suppliers.

Most recently, SITA introduced India's first common use self-service kiosks and launched the first modern airport operations management system at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai.

Swissport launch world first

Swissport International and SITA have announced deployment of the world's first passenger bag-drop solution that allows a single bag-drop counter to be used to service passengers from several airlines in the same queue. The innovation is aimed at improving process flow.

Ten counters have been successfully tested at Zurich Airport for the benefit of 11 airlines, all members of the Star Alliance.

The airlines' host departure control system is recognized by PassengerBagdrop, SITA's new software solution that eliminates a potential bottleneck in the passenger management process.

PassengerBagdrop also supports passengers who have already checked in online but, for whatever reason, do not have a boarding pass. This latest development will lower costs for airline customers and improve passenger throughput without increasing check-in space.

SITA placed in Magic Quadrant

SITA has been positioned once again in the Visionaries quadrant of Gartner Inc's latest Pan-European Network Service Provider (NSP) Magic Quadrant*.

When evaluating providers of network services in their Magic Quadrant, Gartner consider many criteria, of which some of the most important are market responsiveness and track record, customer experience, and products/services offered for the Ability to Execute axis.

_{*Gartner, Inc. Magic Quadrant for Pan-European Network Service Providers 2008, published 9 December 2008. Authors Neil Rickard and Katja Ruud.}

Airmail market open to CHAMP customers

CHAMP Cargosystems has announced an agreement with CDA IT Systems for the provision of an integrated worldwide airmail solution. The deal opens the global airmail market to CHAMP customers.

The CHAMP/CDA partnership will offer carriers CDA's world class MailSystem and MailAgent products within the CHAMP portfolio of cargo solutions. This will give carriers an integrated means to achieve compliance with postal customers.

Cargospot and OAG AFRA

Meanwhile, CHAMP Cargosystems has announced global co-operation for the provision of real-time rate and booking services with OAG Cargo, the leading data and online information services business for the global airfreight industry.

Singapore moves to 'next gen' network

Singapore Airlines is to be the first airline worldwide to use SITA's next generation communications platform to manage increasing demand for bandwidth system-wide.
The increase in network capacity will benefit Singapore Airlines in over 200 sites in 35 countries. It will lead to improved application and content performance.

SITA's new network solution combines existing features of IP VPN, DSL access and the AirportHub platform, with value-added from Regional Internet Gateways. It can move the large amounts of data necessary for aircraft engineering and maintenance management, airport operations and enterprise solutions.

The solution builds on SITA's AirportHub, which is deployed at 110 major airports around the world, where it is used by 90 airlines, ground handlers and other customers.