SITA to upgrade Turkish Airlines to latest IP technology

The airline's sales, airport and cargo offices will be migrated to the system as part of a three year contract, with a renewal period for a two year extension, in the aim of reducing costs and improving operational efficiency across all the airline's international operations.

"This will have a huge impact on the way we conduct business day-to-day", explains Mr. Ali Güler - Electronic Data Processing (EDP) SVP, Turkish Airlines. "Our offices will be connected using the fastest and most reliable technology available, and will be able to access everything from weather and flight briefing services, reservations and cargo applications to individual documents, regardless of location and at high speed. We will also be able to roll-out our own new applications and services over this platform faster and with more ease than ever before."

Hani El-Assaad, President, SITA Middle East & Africa adds: "One of the key networking issues for airlines is to provide regional offices the same access to applications and information as the head office. Implementing SITA's Intranet Connect in this way will enable Turkish Airlines to offer its employees access to all necessary information from anywhere in the world via one portal."

In the first stage 20 offices will be migrated, with the full project due for completion after a two year implementation period. Overall, the flexible, secure and progressive IP intranet will support networking requirements of the data centre, worldwide sales, airport and cargo offices, providing access to reservations, cargo, management information systems and
other applications through a single IP-based portal. As the migration continues the airline will be able to take advantage of the compatibility provided by IP and use the same method to access frequent flyer systems, Marketing Information Data Tape System (MIDT) and flight operations, local accounting systems, sales programs and ultimately file transfer program (FTP) and even conferencing.

Intranet Connect will also serve as a means for Turkish Airlines' employees to access the Internet, and will enable communication between the airline and more than 100 air transport industry organizations through SITA's AeroNet. The airline will also be able to use over 40 specialized SITA applications including WorldTracer® to find mishandled baggage and its Flight Briefing services to plan their flight operations using an integrated portfolio of products which cover flight planning, airport information, weather and NOTAM (Notices to Airmen).

Intranet Connect is SITA's fully managed IP solution that provides scalable, any-to-any, secure IP access worldwide. It is delivered through SITA's global IP network services, and can be used to enable single company intranets, multi-company extranets e.g. airline alliance extranets, and provide secure access to the Internet. Intranet Connect offers customers a unifying standard and the ability to fully integrate new technologies with core applications and resources, maximizing opportunities for increased sales.

As the leading supplier of IP solutions to the aviation sector SITA SC already provides private IP solutions for over 400 customers and connects over 230 airlines and other aviation organizations via its extranet services, helping them operate effectively in secure communities. Its network connectivity is relied upon by 1,800 customers, including 22 of the world's top 25 airlines and over 200 major airports. It also links 60,000 travel agents to all the major Global Distribution Systems (GDSs).