Qatar Airways, the National Airline of the State of Qatar, has awarded SITA a five-year, $30 million contract to build and maintain an advanced telecommunications network infrastructure, connecting all of the airline’s outstations to its reservations host thus creating a fully-managed networked environment.
SITA, a leading provider of information and telecommunications solutions to the air transport industry, is creating a fully-managed global intranet which leverages a suite of TCP/IP protocols operating over SITA’s IP Virtual Private Network (IP VPN), the largest such network in the world.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, said, “SITA will seamlessly connect our offices in the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, and the network will improve the effectiveness of our business applications. It will also help us bridge the information and communication barriers that in the past have typified far-reaching global operations. SITA has demonstrated that they have both the technological expertise and solution offering required to meet our communication needs – both now, and in the future.”
Hani El-Assaad, SITA Regional Vice-President, Middle East & Turkey, said: ''We are extremely pleased to be working with Qatar Airways and look forward to building on the close relationship we have enjoyed to date.
“Many leading companies have moved to IP and have used SITA’s IP VPN to get them there. SITA’s flagship product is used to build company intranets. It provides high performance and secure access between operating locations and outstations located anywhere in the world.”
In addition to IP VPN (Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network), SITA will also provide Qatar Airways with its IP VPN at Airports service which enables access to the airline’s private network over shared airport infrastructure, hence reducing telecommunication costs by more than 30%, without compromising quality of service or security.
SITA will also connect Qatar Airways common use terminal equipment (CUTE) to its host/data centres over AirportConnect Net, a multi-airport extranet solution. The airline currently uses SITA’s AirportConnect CUTE, the world’s leading common user terminal platform available at more than 200 airports worldwide.
The AirportConnect Net solution allows airlines to share passenger handling facilities while providing them with access to their own host applications for functions such as check-in, boarding pass and baggage tag issuance and other departure control services. The solution can increase an airline’s productivity by up to 25%, while minimizing passenger queue time.
As part of the agreement, SITA will also continue supplying Qatar Airways with Type B messaging, which is considered by members of the ATI as a “must have” to enable communications with business partners over a secure and highly reliable messaging network.
About Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways currently operates a young fleet of 52 all-Airbus aircraft from Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, to 70 cities across Europe, Africa, Middle East, Far East and Indian subcontinent.
Qatar Airways expands its international network in 2007 with the launch of non-stop scheduled flights between Doha and New York, Bali, Ho Chi Minh City, Dar Es Salaam and Lagos, together with two points in Northern and Eastern Europe.
In the 2005/6 financial year, Qatar Airways carried more than 6.3 million passengers, a figure that is set to exceed 8 million passengers this year.
Qatar Airways is one of only four airlines in the world with a Five Star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency. Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the fourth year running in 2006 and second best worldwide following a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide.
The airline’s fleet will more than double in size over the next 10 years to 110 aircraft. The airline is a launch customer of the twin-deck Airbus A380 ‘super jumbos’ with four aircraft on order and scheduled for delivery from 2009 to coincide with the opening of the New Doha International Airport. For more information, visit www.ndiaproject.com
Qatar Airways averages just under 40 per cent annual growth in both passenger numbers and revenue. For the financial year that ended in March, Qatar Airways carried more than 6.3 million passengers worldwide.
For more information on Qatar Airways, visit the website at www.qatarairways.com
About SITA
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, 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 and they sponsor the Internet's top level domain reserved exclusively for aviation - .aero.
SITA covers 220 countries and territories and the head office is in Geneva, Switzerland. SITA had aggregated revenues of US$ 1.554 billion in 2005 (€ 1.295 billion).
Further information can be found at: www.sita.aero.
