The Annual General Assembly of SITA has voted to endorse the recommendations of the SITA Group Board to consolidate the two entities, SITA SC and SITA INC, into a single SITA organization under one management team.

This consolidation of the two companies - SITA SC, a non-profit provider of network communications, and SITA INC (Information Networking Computing), a commercial provider of IT solutions - creates the world’s largest communications and IT solutions company focussed exclusively on the air transport industry, with approximately 3,900 employees worldwide and aggregated revenues of $1.5 billion.

Paul Coby, Chairman of the Boards of SITA SC and the SITA Group Foundation said: “Today, the Board has taken a decision of far-reaching consequences for SITA, and the air transport community which owns SITA. SITA is now truly at the heart of the industry, competitively delivering innovative services that meet the present and future demands of the industry while simultaneously continuing to drive major cost reductions for the industry.”

The change comes into effect from the 1st July 2006, at which time the previously announced new CEO, Francesco Violante, will take charge of the combined organization.

Over the last three years, SITA has delivered on a strategy of expansion and innovation with the creation of new subsidiaries such as the Airbus partnership, OnAir, which is developing in-flight mobile telephony; CHAMP Cargosystems, the world’s only IT company solely dedicated to air cargo; and Aviareto, a registry of financial interests in aircraft.

SITA’s move into IT outsourcing in 2005, has been particularly successful resulting in two of the largest deals in the 55-year old company’s history: a ten year outsourcing deal with Dusseldorf airport and a seven year outsourcing deal with Cargolux.

More recently the company’s Horizon portfolio of IT solutions was selected as the e-commerce platform for one of Asia’s largest airlines, Malaysia Airlines, for an estimated total contract value of $80 million.

“Following today’s Board decision, we will create a very powerful platform for future growth and continued success. This combination of the communications and IT solutions businesses is SITA’s unique strength in the air transport industry,” said Coby.
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