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

Oracle and SITA to build most advanced reservations

Oracle, the world's largest business software company, and SITA have announced details of a 15-year agreement to develop the most open and agile airline reservations system ever designed, using service oriented architecture (SOA) and advanced computing techniques.

The strategic technology partnership is a major milestone in the development of SITA's Horizon passenger management portfolio and "will have a profound impact on the airline industry," according to Francesco Violante, SITA CEO.

"It is putting the most advanced technology stack available at the service of our industry for the first time. Advanced technology is essential to the modernization of the airline reservations systems of our 138 airline customers and we expect many others will be attracted to Horizon by the success of the project."

The partnership is already set to bear fruit with the launch next month by SITA of a Horizon feature providing real-time access to airline bookings for business intelligence applications and rapid retrieval of customer journey records across multiple search criteria.

SITA is making its largest-ever single project investment with the further development of its Horizon platform.