SITA INC (Information Networking Computing) today announced details of a major high tech acquisition designed to put the global provider of IT solutions to the air transport industry in lead position in the overall area of airline fares management.
SMG Technologies Inc based in Vancouver, Canada, is now part of SITA INC’s
Passenger and Travel Solutions business unit. Since its founding in 1994,
SMG has developed the most advanced airline fare management and pricing
decision support system in the market, jFACTS, used by airlines such as
Emirates, Singapore, Midwest, Lan Chile, Copa and JetBlue.

“This is a major strategic initiative on the part of SITA INC as we
continue to help customers simplify their business models and improve
profitability.  The emerging fare management and decision support systems
market is growing steadily. This acquisition will help us to complete our
next generation of integrated pricing and data services,” said Francesco
Violante, managing director, SITA INC.

“We are extremely pleased to be adding specialized fares management
products and highly skilled staff to complement and expand our existing
capacity in fares distribution and pricing,” added Violante.

Laurence Oliver, President at SMG, said: “The capabilities we have built at
SMG,  in particular with our industry leading web-based jFACTS, complements
SITA’s strengths in air fare pricing and data distribution products. SITA’s
independence and global reach were important factors in this decision as we
can now capitalise on its existing customer base of over 150 airlines.”

“The staff and products of SMG enable SITA to complete our portfolio of
fares-related products making us the only company currently able to offer a
complete end-to-end solution for data and pricing. SITA INC will support
all SMG customers and develop the products further to meet future
requirements.  We have a very large and expert support team worldwide. I
look forward to the success of the enlarged business in the years ahead,”
said Richard Stokes, Senior Vice President, Passenger and Travel Solutions,
SITA INC.

SITA INC already provides a wide range of services to airlines to
distribute and price their published and private fares. The acquisition of
SMG is the latest step by SITA INC to implement a next generation solution
enabling airlines to manage fares for maximised yield, to distribute them
globally and to price them for traditional sales and in e-commerce
applications.
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