Asia PR News

SINGAPORE, Oct. 31 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ –

SITA’s 8th Annual Airline IT Trends Survey carried out in conjunction with
Airline Business magazine, indicates that Asia Pacific’s airlines are embracing
self-service air transportation, shifting to a traveler-centric model to
facilitate passenger movement.

The survey shows just how rapidly airlines in the region are deploying
self-service technology and how quickly passengers are adopting it. There has
been growth in Asia Pacific airlines selling e-tickets, from 22% in the 2005
Airline IT Trends Survey, to 50% of this year’s respondents. This is expected
to rise to 76% by 2007 and 94% (compared to the global figure of 90%) by 2008.
Just 4% of airlines in the region issue no e-tickets compared to 9% last year.

Bar coded boarding passes are also on the rise with 60% of airlines
expecting to issue them by the end of this year and that number will rise to a
leading 88% (compared to global 79%) by the end of 2007. This will facilitate
self-service check-in, whether online or via kiosk. These two initiatives
alone are saving the industry billions of dollars.

Web check-in has now been implemented by 50% of airlines and this will
increase to 77% by the end of 2007, ahead of the 72% globally.

By the end of 2007, the number of passengers using check-in kiosks is
expected to rise from the now 22% to 29%. The survey also found that only 28%
of self-service kiosks are common-use i.e. can be used by customers of multiple
airlines, but this is expected to rise to 41% by the end of 2007.

Francesco Violante, SITA CEO, said, "The speed at which the industry is
moving towards a self-service passenger model is clearly borne out by the
technology investment priorities of airlines. 80% of airlines responding to
the survey see projects with proven payback and cost savings, such as on-line
booking, bar-coded boarding passes and self-service check-in as their highest
priority, up from 50% last year," added Violante.

This year’s survey indicates that aviation will become the world’s first
totally IP (Internet Protocol)-enabled industry, putting the power of the
worldwide web at the service of the airlines and passengers.

The survey results released today reveal that 82% of airline locations
worldwide now have IP connectivity, rising to 89% by the end of 2007 and 93% by
the end of 2008. In parallel, 78% of airline systems are now IP-enabled and
will reach 83% by the end of 2007 and 87% by the end of 2008.

Paul Coby, SITA chairman, said, "This year’s Airline IT Trends survey
provides the clearest evidence yet that the airlines will be the world’s first
fully web-enabled industry. IP is the underlying communication technology that
enables many new applications, such as online reservation systems, so it has
brought a radical change to air travel ever since SITA developed the first
internet booking engine just over ten years ago. It is also driving the
self-service business model, which is both convenient for passengers and helps
airlines keep ticket prices down."

The survey also establishes for the first time that the average IT
headcount at Asia Pacific airlines is the highest globally with 2.2% compared
with 1.8% of the global airline workforce. In terms of percentage of revenues
spent on IT, the region has one of the lowest at 2.1%.

58% of respondent airlines in the region have higher IT headcount than five
years ago and 54% expect to increase IT headcount over the next three years.

The on-line booking revolution, which saves airlines enormous amounts of
money on distribution costs, continues to gain pace in the region. 19% of
tickets are currently sold on-line (compared to 10% in 2005), leaving room for
improvement as airlines seek to eliminate commissions on ticket sales.

Just 8% of airlines sell no tickets through web-based channels, and call
centre ticket sales are at 14% compared to 12% in 2005. The rise in online
ticket sales is an indicator of further pressure on the traditional travel
agent.

The major issues highlighted by Asia Pacific airlines with regard to
on-line sales were the complexity of airline pricing/fares — 40%, and the
desire not to upset traditional channels — 16%.

Violante also pointed to greater optimism among airlines globally about the
savings to be derived from business to business e-commerce. "The trend for the
last few years has been a decline in expectation of savings from B2B
investments, but this has now reversed with airlines anticipating savings in
the order of 13% compared to traditional processes, up from the 10% we recorded
in our last survey."

The survey also provides further confirmation of the region’s appetite for
inflight passenger communications. Airlines using SITA-owned OnAir onboard
mobile communications solutions include Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines,
EVA Air, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, bmi and Ryanair. The percentages
of airlines in the region expecting to offer inflight communication channels by
the end of 2008 are: internet access — 66%; email — 62%; SMS — 50%; and
mobile phones — 46%.

The Airline IT Trends Survey 2006 provides a detailed snapshot of where the
airline industry stands in embracing new technology, gives trends on where
investments are being made, pointers on future developments and challenges. It
can be ordered through http://www.flightglobal.com .

About SITA

SITA is the world’s leading service provider of IT business solutions and
communications services to the air transport industry. SITA manages complex
communication solutions for its air transport, government and GDS customers
over the world’s most extensive communication network, complemented by
consultancy in the design, deployment and integration of communication
services. Its extensive range of airline and airport applications and services
includes airport operations and integrated baggage services, common use and
desktop services, flight operations and air-to-ground communications and
end-to-end airline distribution and fares services.

SITA has two main subsidiaries: OnAir, which is leading the race to bring
in-flight mobile telephony to the market, and CHAMP Cargosystems, the world’s
only IT company solely dedicated to air cargo. SITA also operates two joint
ventures providing services to the air transport community: Aviareto for
aircraft asset management and CertiPath for secure electronic identity
management and they sponsor the Internet’s top level domain reserved
exclusively for aviation -.aero.

SITA covers 220 countries and territories and the head office is in Geneva,
Switzerland. SITA reported aggregated revenues of $1.554 billion (EUR1.295bn)
for the year 2005.

Further information can be found at http://www.sita.aero .

For further information (not for publication) contact:

SITA
Susanna Leong
Regional Marketing Consultant
Tel: +65-6548-2872
Mobile: +65-9366-9931
Email: Susanna.Leong@sita.aero

SOURCE: SITA