SITA signs $5.6 million contract for three major Moroccan international airports

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SITA today announced that it has won a five-year, $5.6 million contract from the Moroccan National Office of Airports (ONDA) to improve passenger flow through the country’s main airports in Casablanca, Agadir and Marrakech.

SITA, the world’s leading provider of IT solutions to airports, has been contracted by ONDA to install and maintain AirportConnect CUTE (common user terminal), a state-of-the art IT system for managing busy airport environments.

“Traffic at these airports is expanding fast from 7 million passengers in 2005. Tourism in 2006 is expected to grow by 12%.  We are very satisfied to have SITA as our IT partner. Not only can they meet our needs today but they are also able to provide us with a development path to the future of common-use airport functionality,” said Dr. Abdelhanine Benallou, ONDA CEO.

“The installation will consist of a full AirportConnect CUTE/XP system at Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport which will also host AirportConnect systems for Marrakech and Agadir Airports. It is ideal for efficient passenger processing and also allows for deployment of a wide range of other applications as needed,” said Jamal El-Hoss, SITA INC’s Regional Vice-President.

AirportConnect CUTE is a common software, hardware and network airport solution that enables airlines and handling agents to access their own applications from workstations and printers shared by all users. It is IP enabled and available in wireless and dial-up versions.

It supports passenger processing applications such as departure control and boarding systems as well as airport operations systems including flight information displays and resource management. Baggage management is also supported.

SITA is also teaming up with SM International which will supervise ONDA maintenance staff and provide help desk support for five years.

SITA is the world's leading service provider of IT business solutions and communications services to the air transport industry. SITA manages complex communication solutions for its air transport, government and GDS customers over the world’s most extensive communication network, complemented by consultancy in the design, deployment and integration of communication services.  Its extensive range of airline and airport applications and services includes airport operations and integrated baggage services, common use and desktop services, flight operations and air-to-ground communications and end-to-end airline distribution and fares services.

SITA has two main subsidiaries: OnAir, which is leading the race to bring in-flight mobile telephony to the market in 2006, and CHAMP Cargosystems, the world's only IT company solely dedicated to air cargo. SITA also operates two joint ventures providing services to the air transport community: Aviareto for aircraft asset management and CertiPath for secure electronic identity management.

SITA covers 220 countries and territories and the head office is in Geneva, Switzerland. 

© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)