The Dubai-based business technology provider was selected after a rigorous evaluation process to provide Sri Lankan Airlines with an integrated airline and ground handling solution. Mercator’s SkyChain was the clear winner, as the solution fulfils Sri Lankan’s cargo IT vision for the future and guarantees reducing costs and increasing revenue.

Duncan Alexander, Vice President, Mercator said: “This is another significant milestone in the road map of SkyChain. Sri Lankan is our first external customer to go live with SkyChain’s ground handling module; the carrier joins other customers including Swiss World Cargo which have already cut over with our airline solution.

“My congratulations to the entire team involved in this smooth and successful transition which has allowed Sri Lankan to break free from the constraints of previous legacy systems.”

SkyChain, wholly developed by Mercator in Dubai, has been designed to automate every aspect of an airline’s cargo business in a single integrated system in order to maximise performance, raise service quality and optimise resources. SkyChain is also compliant with the latest industry developments, such as IATA’s e-freight initiative, which is fully supported.

Sri Lankan’s Head of Worldwide Sales, Mohamed Fazeel, said: “SkyChain is a web-based system that allows our customers the facility to monitor the progress of their consignments around the world from wherever there is internet accessibility. It also provides on-line booking services for registered customers of Sri Lankan Cargo. This will lead to faster processing times at our cargo acceptance and delivery counters.”

SkyChain Handler, a recently developed module of SkyChain, is the new and improved solution for the air cargo handling business. Being a major milestone on the Mercator product roadmap and now successfully delivered, it will further differentiate the SkyChain product from existing solutions in the marketplace.