Over 100 French regional airports will now be able to deploy IT technology on a similar scale to the big city airports thanks to an agreement between the French IT distributor, Eclipse, and SITA, which provides check-in systems to more than 200 large airports worldwide.

Eclipse today became a member of the SITA Channel Partner Program which aims at making state-of-the art IT technology available for the first time to small and medium-sized airports handling up to five million passengers per year as this sector expands thanks to the growth of low cost carriers and the worldwide surge in passenger traffic over the last two years.

Marc Pinault, CEO of Eclipse, said: “Thanks to our partnership with SITA, small and medium-sized airports in France can now take advantage of the same technologies as larger airports. There is a real need to modernise IT infrastructure and to optimise the capacity of France’s network of regional airports so they become more attractive for both passengers and airlines.”

Average growth last year exceeded 5% in the French regional airport market which caters to almost 40 million passengers annually through a network of over 100 airports.

Umar Khan, Vice President of SITA’s Channel Partner Program, said: “Passenger numbers worldwide have jumped from 1.6 billion in 2003 to over 2.2 billion last year and a good proportion of this growth has come through small and medium-sized airports which are often the airports of choice for low-cost carriers.

“Passenger and airline expectations in regional airports can only be met if the very latest technology is available to ensure a smooth flow of passengers through the airport from check-in to boarding and baggage management. We are actively working with partners like Eclipse to ensure that the benefits of the latest IT technology can now be felt at small and medium-sized airports as well as the large ones where our systems are universally available.”

Eclipse can now distribute SITA’s products and services in France’s regional airports. The agreement will make shared-use passenger and baggage processing solutions widely available.

Solutions and services available under the Indirect Channels label includes SITA’s flagship check-in applications, such as AirportConnect CUTE, AirportConnect Kiosk, Bag Manager, Bag Message and DCS (Departure Control System) in Application Service Provider mode, thereby helping airports to reduce the total cost of ownership.

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