Dubai: SITA, an information technology company, is bidding to extend its contract to provide IT services at Abu Dhabi Airports Company (Adac) to the Dh10.8 Midfield Terminal Building (MTB).
Hani Al Assaad, SITA President for Middle East, India & Africa, said the company is currently trying position itself to win the tender.
Al Assaad was speaking at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the second Aviation ICT Forum in Dubai, which, according to SITA, brought together 300 representatives from 100 organisations.
SITA provides IT services to streamline passenger check-in and boarding as well as improve efficiency and communication between airlines and the airport. SITA calls some of these services, ‘AirportConnect,’ ‘OpenMaestro DCS’ and ‘LocalAirportConnect Kiosk.’
SITA’s current contract to provide services at Abu Dhabi International Airport’s existing terminals runs through to 2015. The Midfield Terminal Building (MTB) is scheduled to come online in July 2017 and will lift the airport’s total capacity up to 55 million passengers a year. Its current capacity is 17.5 million.
In a bid to manage increasing passenger traffic, Abu Dhabi International is currently rolling out a passenger self-boarding trial at two gates in the airport.
Last year, Abu Dhabi International handled 16.5 million passengers, a 12.4 per cent jump on 2012 figures. The airport expects to handle 18 million this year — but SITA estimates put the figure as high as 20 million, according to Al Assaad.
Al Maktoum International
Al Assaad said SITA is working with stakeholders in Dubai, including Emirates and Dubai Airports, that will be impacted by the runway closure later this year.
Runway repairs scheduled to take place at Dubai International from May 1 to July 20 this year will cause a disruption to services with airlines deciding to shift to Al Maktoum International or cut flights over the 80-day period.
“We are working on a mission critical support for the airlines so this is not affecting the passenger flow,” he said.
Mission critical support, according to SITA, is ensuring that services between Dubai International and Al Maktoum International are not doubled up and that issues at one airport do not impact the other.
