Newstrack

CSIA becomes first Indian airport to install SITA's airport management system

EAW Staff - Mumbai

Phillip Cash, Airport Director, Mumbai International Airport and Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA AERO

Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has announced that it is going live with India's first modern airport management system at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai.

The airport management system has been installed by the global provider of airport IT solutions, SITA. This innovation heralds a significant turning point with a shift from reliance on manual systems to IT-driven automation which enables end-to-end management of airport resources in real-time.

CSIA, which is India's busiest airport has witnessed a huge growth of passenger and freight volumes over the last five years. For the period April 2006 - March 2007 passenger traffic at CSIA was 22.25 million, up by 21 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year.

Sanjay Reddy, managing director, Mumbai International Airport, said, "In line with MIAL's vision of making CSIA a world class airport, we plan to invest in best-in-class technology and systems. SITA's Airport Management Solution will lead to improved performance across the whole spectrum of our activity including more efficient allocation of resources such as departure gates, aircraft slots, check-in counters and baggage carousels to airlines and creating a state-of-the-art flight information display for the passengers. It will enable effective co-ordination and real-time availability of information."

Francesco Violante, SITA CEO, said, "SITA has been very involved in the development of air transport in India. Airlines will immediately begin to reap the benefits of the SITA Airport Management Solution as it will give them real-time oversight of the billable services provided by the airport. It will also address any revenue leakage which might otherwise be difficult to pinpoint. The solution provides efficiency and transparency for both airline and airport alike."

Violante added, "This development is just as significant as the introduction by SITA of the first CUTE or Common Use Terminal Equipment for airline check-in at Indian airports in 1998. We will also shortly be announcing details of a major expansion in the air-ground VHF communications network that we began building in India twelve years ago and which is now an important part of the shift from reliance on voice communications to datalink."