SITA

This article is about the aviation information technology company. For other uses, see Sita (disambiguation).

SITA - Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques

Headquarters	Brussels, Belgium
Website	www.sita.aero

Known as the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, the company also uses the name SITA.

SITA was founded in February 1949 by 11 airlines, providing communications for the air transport industry. The company was the first to handle data traffic in real time via a packet switched network over common carrier leased lines.

Today, it is one of the world's most international companies. Its global reach is based on local presence, with services for some 500 air transport industry members and 2,700 customers in around 200 countries and territories. SITA today employs people of more than 140 nationalities, speaking over 70 different languages.

SITA delivers and manages business solutions for airline, airport, GDS, government and other customers over the world’s most extensive network, which forms the communications backbone of the global air transport industry.

SITA’s portfolio includes managed global communications, infrastructure and outsourcing services, as well as services for airline commercial management and passenger operations, flight operations, aircraft operations and air-to-ground communications, airport management and operations, baggage operations, transportation security and border management, cargo operations and more.

With a customer service team of over 2,700 staff around the world, SITA invests significantly in achieving best-in-class customer service, providing integrated local and global support for both its communications and IT application services.

SITA is owned by its air transport industry members, and appoints each year the members of the SITA Board. The company has the remit of serving the aviation community’s interests, working with the air transport community, for the benefit of the community. This includes cooperation with industry bodies, such as IATA, to solve common industry issues through the use of IT and telecommunication services, through development of community systems, industry standards and shared infrastructures for aviation. SITA also produces a number of industry surveys on airport, airline, passenger, baggage and security IT trends.

SITA has a number of subsidiaries mostly for operational matters, but also OnAir, which provides industry-leading, on-board connectivity solutions that enable passengers to stay connected while they travel, CHAMP Cargosystems, the world's only IT company dedicated solely to air cargo, Aviareto for aircraft asset management and CertiPath for secure electronic identity management.

SITA is a Belgian registered cooperative, with offices in Brussels and other major cities worldwide. Its Head Office is in Belgium. SITA had consolidated revenues of US$1.46 billion in 2010.

Portfolio

SITA’s portfolio includes: managed global communications, infrastructure and outsourcing services, as well as services for airline commercial management and passenger operations, flight operations, aircraft operations and air-to-ground communications, airport management and operations, baggage operations, transportation security and border management, and cargo operations.

In particular, SITA's portfolio services cover:

• Communications & Infrastructure - including Hybrid Networks, Voice & Convergence, Community Messaging, Infrastructure Management, and Outsourcing.
• Commercial Management - including Passenger Management, Distribution Management, Fares Management and Pricing, and Revenue Optimization.
• Passenger Operations - including Passenger Processing and In-flight Communications.
• Baggage Operations - including Baggage Management.
• Transportation Security - including Border Management.
• Cargo Operations - including Cargo Management.
• Airport Operations - including Airport Management and Master Systems Integration.
• Aircraft Operations - including Aircraft Operational Communications, and Flight Operations.

SITA's shared infrastructures include Airport Hubs, AirportConnect, CUTE and BagMessage Services, as well as systems for advanced passenger processing, reservations and fares. SITA's community systems enable even the smallest airports and airlines to stay connected, with the same quality network and systems as everybody else.

The community systems provided by SITA for the air transport industry, include:

• Aviareto – for aircraft asset management
• Certipath – for secure electronic identity management
• WorldTracer – for baggage tracking
• BagMessage – for the global exchange of IATA-standard baggage messages
• Type B – for IATA standard messaging
• iBorders – for border management solutions
• Cargo Community System – for global electronic data interchange

To help simplify communications and processes across the air transport community, SITA works with industry and standards committees to define common standards for:

• Messaging (ADS-B, Type X communications, Aero-ID and CUSS)
• Traceability (AutoID)
• Transportation security (Border Management data hub)
• Passenger Management (CUPPS) etc

Some notable recent innovations include:

An application that allows passengers to use their mobile phone for the journey, from booking right through to boarding the aircraft, to help make paperless air travel a reality.

The world's smallest full-function check-in kiosk and world's first passenger bag-drop solution which allows a single bag-drop counter to be used to service passengers from several airlines in the same queue; an innovation that will ensure a faster process flow.

CUPPS (Common Use Passenger Processing System) technology, A replacement for the CUTE (Common Use Terminal Equipment) check-in and boarding standard that is used today. SITA has been working with IATA and others for the last four years to introduce this capability, which will save the air transport industry millions of dollars. SITA became the first service provider to achieve CUPPS compliance certification and to successfully complete its CUPPS pilot program.

The first service for the industry to develop a monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) software tool specially designed to accurately measure carbon emissions and fuel burn from aircraft in tonne-kilometres in line with the new EU regulatory requirements.

External links

• Official website
• 'Air Transport IT Review' - SITA's external newsletter
• 'Air Transport IT Summit' - the annual forum for the industry's IT leaders
• OnAir official website
• SITA network in 1973
• IATA official website
• ICAO official website
• Chretien, G.J.; Konig, W.M. and Rech, J.H. (1973). "The SITA Network". Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Computer Communication Networks. Sussex, United Kingdom: Noordhoff International Publishing. pp. 373–396. http://rogerdmoore.ca/PS/SITAB.html.