SITA will drive business transformation at all four of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s international airports over the next five years through a $16.8 million IT investment programme focused on departure control systems, passenger check-in and baggage management, it was announced recently.

SITA has signed an agreement with the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to automate passenger and baggage processing at the International Airports of King Abdul-Aziz, Jeddah, King Khaled, Riyadh, King Fahd, Dammam, and Prince Mohamad, Medina, to handle all foreign airlines’ departure passengers using these airports.
HE Abdullah Ruhaimy, GACA president, said, “We were facing a number of challenges in managing our international airports and recognised the need for flexible and proven IT systems that will enable us to integrate and automate our operations in a cost-effective manner to the benefit of both airlines and passengers.
“Our five year agreement with SITA will transform the international airport environment here in Saudi Arabia through the smart deployment of IT that will automate and streamline the check-in process in order to avoid delays. Security will be enhanced by ensuring passenger and bag reconciliation at all times.”
The deal includes state-of-the-art airport IT solutions known as AirportConnect CUTE (common use terminal equipment) for check-in, BagManager for automated passenger and bag reconciliation to reduce mishandling rates, and Maestro Local DCS (departure control system).