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

SITA - 60 years on... touching the lives of almost every air passenger in the world

When 11 airlines signed an agreement to pool their telecommunications facilities on 23 February 1949, they called the resulting cooperative organization the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques.

Originally set up as a not-for-profit membership organization, SITA's primary objective was to "eliminate the present excessive delays" in dealing with messages among the airlines, with the added "benefit to the public of speedier reservations."¹

Sixty years later the vision of working together to improve the efficiency of the entire air transport industry continues to underpin everything SITA stands for.

Today, SITA is run commercially and also includes a for-profit business. The company now touches the lives of almost every air passenger in almost every corner of the globe, through the provision of services to over 550 air transport industry members and 3,200 customers. SITA is now based in more than 335 locations worldwide.

For more see www.sita.aero/content/60-years-SITA.

_{1. Civil Aviation News - Flight Magazine, 10 March 1949}

Membership programme - still actively recruiting!

One thing has not changed in 60 years. SITA is still the only global provider of IT and communication services owned entirely by its members.

SITA members come from right across the air transport industry.

On reaching its 60th anniversary, SITA is actively recruiting more members as part of a new membership programme.

Membership brings several advantages. Among them are economic benefits - for example, minimized network services costs - as well as the benefits of access to knowledge, such as insight into industry trends and initiatives from a global, national and regional level.

Membership ensures that SITA meets the community's needs - with all members gaining access to shared services and solutions. There are also governance and shareholder benefits.

For more information on our membership programme, see www.sita.aero/members.

The view from the SITA Chair

Extract from SITA Chair Paul Coby's letter to SITA Members, 23 February 2009

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In 2009 we find ourselves around the world in economically uncharted territory. Globally, air transport, which had looked confidently forward less than a year ago to a profitable 2008, ended up significantly in the red.

Success stories are hard to find and there are few IT companies which have lasted as long as SITA. SITA exists because its customers want it to exist.

SITA has the largest portfolio of systems, solutions and services in our business. But SITA must compete on almost everything it provides for the air transport community - whether on a for-profit or a not-for-profit basis. This ensures that SITA's customers always have choice, but it also means we as an industry have a unique asset, a world-class company, which we can strategically steer to provide the services we want and need.

With the collapse of previous certainties we should be looking for different business models. I believe that SITA has a proven community business model.

It will not work for everyone, or everywhere, but it deserves serious consideration - 60 years of longevity and adaptability prove something.

The CEO's view

By SITA CEO Francesco Violante

As SITA commemorates its 60th anniversary, we face one of the most economically challenging periods in the history of our industry. Nevertheless, we can look back at our heritage as an innovator in IT and communications, having been at the forefront of many transforming technologies that have improved the way the air transport industry works.

Often these technologies have played a critical role in helping the industry to address the issues of costs and efficiency. Today is no different. Our focus remains on helping customers to use IT to tackle the challenges they now face. In fact, our customers - and owners - are at the heart of our story. Through our membership structure they have shared their needs with us and guided us in helping them reach their goals. This, combined with our ability to attract some of the brightest minds in the industry, has ensured that we have always been innovating - often in collaboration with customers - to deliver the solutions to fit the industry's needs.

As we look to the future, we do so with the determination to continue as a leading and unique company that remains securely at the heart of the air transport industry.

SITA predicts brave new world of hassle-free travel as it marks 60th anniversary

Mobile devices are on the verge of impacting the passenger's journey to the same extent that the jet engine did, and flight booking is in for an overhaul.

To mark the day of its 60th anniversary SITA predicted a revolution in how passengers in the future will use the online flight-booking engine.

"The rise of social networking over the Internet means that the days of the simple online flight-booking engine are numbered. Web 2.0 technologies will transform airline web sites into travel planning portals that go far beyond date and location," said Jim Peters, SITA's Chief Technology Officer.

New Frontiers: 'Ten technology advances that will change air travel'

In making its predictions around mobility, SITA also issued a New Frontiers paper, 'Ten technology advances that will change air travel'.

It says that digital travellers will access all their travel needs while on the move, citing the recent launch of inflight mobile phone services on Ryanair by SITA's subsidiary, OnAir, as further proof of how important the mobile phone is becoming for today's travellers. Other technologies covered include biometrics, Near Field Communications, RFID, Cloud Computing, Collaborative Decision Making and more.

> Download the New Frontiers paper