SriLankan Airlines has awarded SITA a $1 million contract to install and maintain a Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system at the Bandaranayke International Airport (BIA), one of the key airport hubs in Asia.

Under the three-year contract, SITA will provide hardware, software and ongoing maintenance for the CUTE systems which will support 75 workstations including check-in, transfer counters and back office operations in the newly built airport terminal.

SITA’s CUTE system enables airlines to share passenger handling facilities, while also providing them access to their own host applications from the CUTE workstation for functions including reservations, ticketing, boarding pass and baggage tag issuance and departure control, helping increase productivity by up to 25 per cent and minimizing passenger queues.

Kamal Nanayakkara, Head of IT, SriLankan Airlines, said, ‘SriLankan Airlines wants to keep the recently upgraded International Airport up to date with the latest technology in its capacity as the Ground Handler. This together with the requirement to enhance e-ticket handling of all operating carriers made us to look at a common use terminal solution.

‘After a thorough evaluation of the benefits associated with the introduction of a common-use environment, SriLankan Airlines has chosen SITA to provide its CUTE system to BIA. CUTE will help us to deliver even better service to all our valued airline customers. We are looking forward to the completion of the project in January 2007.’

Hani El-Assaad, SITA Regional Vice-President, Middle East & Turkey, said: “We are delighted to be working with SriLankan Airlines on this project. The implementation of SITA’s CUTE will help to streamline operations at Bandaranayke International Airport and passengers will benefit from improved service and reduced check-in times. Passenger traffic is expanding fast from 4.4 million in 2005 and the country’s tourism is expected to grow by 6.3% this year.”

SITA’s solutions are designed to help airports maximize security, combat congestion, improve operating efficiencies and reduce costs. They provide airports with the technology architecture required to take advantage of a broad range of IP-based services which are vital to the future of the air transport industry. 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.
——-