SITA extends common-use technology to nine South African airports

The Airports Company South Africa and Aviation Co-ordination Services (ACS) have renewed SITA, the global air transport IT company, as the common-use technology provider for Airports Company South Africa, extending the coverage to nine airports.

Together the airports handle more than 90% of scheduled civil aviation traffic in South Africa. 

The new five-year contract will see SITA’s common-use passenger processing platform and kiosks in use at all nine airports which include three of the country’s largest: O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg; Cape Town International Airport; and King Shaka International Airport in Durban. In total, SITA will install more than 1,000 work stations and 116 self-service check-in and baggage-tracing kiosks across the airports, along with the associated backend hardware and network-related infrastructure. 

Airports Company South Africa’s chief operations officer, Tebogo Mekgoe, said: “Nearly 18-million passengers fly from our airports every year. We want them to have a world-class experience and to deliver this we need the very best technology. SITA works with airports across the world and not only does its technology give passengers the very visible services we know they want – like self-service check-in kiosks – but it also makes our airport operations highly efficient.” 

Common-use standards allow the world’s airlines to work seamlessly at airports, sharing check-in desks, kiosks and boarding areas. SITA AirportConnect Open is the only common-use platform that fully integrates solutions both for agents and passengers. It delivers seamless self-service from check-in to security and boarding all the way to border security on arrival. It is fully Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant, supporting the security requirements of the credit card industry. 

ACS, mandated by the airlines, is responsible for on-going operations, support and maintenance of the common-use platform at the Airports Company South Africa airports. Juan van Rensburg, CEO of ACS, said: “SITA has a proven track-record of providing excellent technology combined with a strong onsite operations and support team. Implementation will happen over the next 16 months and we aim to minimize any operational disruption. This requires both detailed and flexible planning, so the ACS and SITA teams have to work seamlessly. I am confident it will be a very successful project.” 

The design of SITA’s common-use platform includes connectivity between the nine South African airports for both airport and airline operations. SITA’s technology also allows the airports to manage passenger flows by providing information on the volumes and dwell times of passengers at various locations. This business intelligence also supports the management of staff and other resources. 

Paul Murphy, SITA vice president, Sub-Sahara Africa said: “Our common-use technology means the Airports Company South Africa airports can process passengers faster, with higher service levels and at lower cost than before. It is good news for the airports, their airline customers and, most importantly, for passengers.”