SITA to upgrade airport systems in India

Monday, 7 October 2013 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has chosen SITA’s next generation Airport Management System to transform operations at ten airports across India, enhancing the passenger journey for 42 million passengers. The seven-year, multi-million dollar deal is part of a $ 130 billion airport modernisation project from the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation. It comes as India prepares for annual passenger numbers to triple to 450 million by 2020. SITA has partnered with NIIT Technologies Ltd. for this first multi-airport project in Asia to implement Airport Operations Control Centres (AOCC). AAI is integrating and automating airport operations at 10 of its airports including Chennai and Kolkata in technology partnership with NIIT Technologies Ltd., who will in turn implement SITA’s solution for central AODB and AMS. Once implemented successfully, it will help implement Airport Collaborative Decision Making (ACDM) which will greatly enhance both capacity and efficiency of the airport operations thereby making them more cost effective. AAI is also implementing Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) and Baggage Reconciliation System (BRS) at 38 airports in partnership with SITA. At the core of the new system is the authority’s airport command and control centre, which monitors and controls operations at all ten airports in real-time. It enables the airports and their stakeholders including airlines, customs, immigration and ground handlers to collaborate around the same real-time information and make fully-informed decisions on resources and other issues. For example, during peak vacation periods, if queues at check-in and security grow too long, the airport can work with its partners to add more staff and reduce wait times. As passenger traffic continues to grow, SITA’s Airport Resource Manager will help the airport authority manage and deploy staff and equipment in real time. Using this powerful planning and scheduling tool, both the central command centre and the individual airports can respond to changing situations, improving the passenger experience. They can accommodate large numbers of passengers, seasonal fluctuations and disruptions by allocating staff and fixed airport resources, including departure gates, baggage carousels and check-in desks, as needed. The technology will also be of major benefit during periods of disruption. If bad weather delays inbound and outbound flights, the airport can work with its partners to change departure and arrival gates and quickly deploy more staff to the gates. It can also immediately add more immigration officials and ground handlers to speed passengers’ journeys through the airport. This new deal with the AAI marks the first deployment of SITA’s next generation airport management system in the country. The 10 airports that will benefit from SITA’s next generation Airport Management System are Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Calicut, Jaipur, Mangalore, Pune, Trichy, Trivandrum and Guwahati Airports.

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