SITA helps South Africa's domestic airlines improve efficiency with CUTE check-in

SITA's CUTE (Common Use Terminal Equipment) system enables every airport check-in desk to be linked to any airline's reservations and departure control system, helping increase operational effectiveness by up to 25 per cent and minimizing passenger queues. Under the new five-year contract, SITA will provide operations and services for the CUTE systems it installed at Johannesburg's Domestic Terminal following an agreement between SITA and the Airports Company of South African (ACSA) in 2002.

With SITA's latest Java-based and Internet Protocol (IP) enabled CUTE system in place on a total of 150 workstations at check-in desks and boarding gates, the Domestic Terminal already takes advantage of enhanced airport operations and passenger services for a number of domestic airlines. By now entrusting SITA with the operation and maintenance of the system, ACS will assist the airlines to further boost operational efficiency while ensuring continuing smooth use of the CUTE system.

"SITA's community or 'common use' solutions play a central role in helping create the most technologically advanced, efficient and passenger-friendly airports in the world," said Jamal El-Hoss, SITA's Regional VP for Sales and Marketing in the Middle East region. "We are delighted to be working closely with ACSA and ACS on this project. It's our goal to help our customers use information technology to optimize efficiency, increase customer satisfaction, maintain cost-effectiveness and improve security."

CUTE has been operational at Johannesburg International Airport Domestic terminal since March 2003. "We are looking forward to replicating our worldwide industry leadership and our local know-how to the rest of airports in South Africa" added Khodr Akil, SITA's General Manager in South Africa.

"SITA's CUTE system plays a critical role in the operation of Johannesburg International Airport's Domestic Terminal, helping to maintain high standards of passenger handling and customer service," said John Morrison, Chairman, ACS. "We appreciate that this can only be achieved with state-of-the-art IT systems and we're confident that by entrusting SITA with the operation and maintenance of the CUTE system we'll have the flexibility we need to meet the current and future needs of our customers."

SITA's solutions are designed to help airports maximize security, combat congestion, improve operating efficiencies and reduce costs. They provide airports with the technology architecture required to take advantage of a broad range of IP-based services which are vital to the future of the air transport industry. SITA currently manages some 30,000 CUTE workstations for 285 customers in more than 200 airport locations worldwide, checking-in an estimated 580 million passengers a year.