A 36% rise in passenger traffic last year at Sharjah International Airport will result in a major upgrade of the SITA check-in systems used by the many airlines serving the airport’s three million passengers, it was announced.Dr. Ghanem Al Hajri, Chairman of airport owner Sharjah Aviation Services, said, “There has been tremendous 36% growth in passenger traffic over the last year, partly because we are now the home base for the Middle East’s first low-cost carrier, Air Arabia, which is experiencing great success.

“SITA is helping us to drive business transformation through the smart deployment of IT systems tailored to our customers” specific needs and we have decided now to upgrade to AirportConnect CUTE (Common Use Terminal Equipment), a web-enabled version of CUTE as part of our overall airport expansion plan.”?

The SITA CUTE technology will support 105 check-in counters and workstations, which will maximize the airport’s terminal space and use of shared infrastructure, thereby reducing the need for additional dedicated check-in facilities and allowing the airport to maintain its high level of service to all airlines operating from Sharjah International Airport with minimal cost.

The locally hosted AirportConnect CUTE system at Sharjah International Airport is based on Windows XP supports passenger processing applications such as departure control and boarding systems and is capable of full integration with airport operations systems such as flight information displays and baggage management systems.

Hani El-Assaad, SITA Regional Vice-President, Middle East and Turkey,
said: “The implementation of SITA’s latest CUTE solutions was based on an on-site survey conducted by SITA to share our recommendations and global experience with Sharjah Aviation Services to help them in achieving their goals.

“The installation of AirportConnect CUTE will improve the passenger journey for all airlines using Sharjah International Airport with enhanced services and reduced check-in times?”

SITA currently manages some 30,000 CUTE workstations for 285 customers in more than 200 airport locations worldwide, checking-in an estimated 580 million passengers a year.
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