Thursday Sep 11, 2025
Thursday Sep 11, 2025
Thursday, 11 September 2025 00:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
SITA Asia Pacific President Sumesh Patel speaks at media roundtable in Colombo yesterday - Pic by Lasantha Kumara
By Nisthar Cassim
The global leader in technology solutions for the air transportation industry, SITA, yesterday commended the progress at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) amidst challenges and stressed for continuous investment in digital transformation to better manage the envisaged uptick in future traffic.
It acknowledged that the Sri Lankan authorities have implemented several recommendations made in a special SITA study on how to improve the passenger experience and operational efficiency. SITA officials whilst welcoming the progress stressed there is room for further improvement and the authorities are working on it.
SITA said BIA is in the process of adding 20 more self-service kiosks augmenting the existing eight at present and a self-bag drop unit. BIA uses CUTE solution comprising desktop, boarding pass printer, bag tag printers and gate readers at 59 check-in counters. SITA added that the BIA is also in the process of enabling global carriers to use the self-service kiosks option in a phased-out manner.
SITA which has been the leading technology partner for BIA since 1968, stressed acceleration of modernisation, automation and digital transformation is key as Sri Lanka plans to double the inflow of tourists in the next two years from 2024’s figure of 2 million.
“Sri Lanka is a tourism-dependent growth economy. Advancing digital travel solutions can play a key role in achieving this goal by enhancing the visitor experience and streamlining the travel process,” SITA Asia Pacific President Sumesh Patel told a media roundtable in Colombo yesterday.
According to SITA, the BIA saw a 16% growth in passenger traffic to 5 million in the first half of this year. Last year BIA saw 8.88 million passengers, up by 17.6% from 2023. Aircraft movements in 2024 rose by 20.7% with around 38 airlines operating at present. Sri Lanka is also on-course to add a second terminal in the next few years in addition to on-going expansion and modernisation. The number of passengers at BIA is forecast to increase to 14 million by 2027.
Patel said airlines and airports globally are investing in IT infrastructure, passenger processing and airport operations systems to future-proof their transformation. Airlines in 2024 invested $ 37 billion and airports invested $ 9 billion.
By 2027, as per SITA research, 75% of aviation industry stakeholders plan to adopt biometric-enabled technologies. Airports are also moving to cloud-based, mobile systems for check-in and boarding, cutting costs and improving flexibility. In the Asia Pacific, early use of API-driven platforms is boosting innovations and enabling digital, scalable passenger services beyond traditional infrastructure. At present over 1 billion e-passports are being used globally as well.
Owned by 400 global airlines and related industries, SITA has over 2,500 customers – almost every airline and airport in the world as well as governments, ground handlers and others. Specifically, SITA serves over 1,000 airports; and over 70 governments and all G20 nations use SITA’s border management solutions – representing 85% of all international air passengers. Over 13 billion air passengers benefit from SITA systems and over 2.2 billion traveller journeys a year are processed by SITA’s border solutions for over 660 airlines through a single gateway.
SITA said its 8.3% revenue growth to $ 1.6 billion in 2024 is driven by strong performance across its Airports, Borders, and Aircraft businesses, and all four of its geographies. Strategic acquisitions and product innovations fuelled this momentum, allowing customers to transform quickly and operate with greater agility, SITA added.
