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SITA Reports 3.5 Per Cent Increase in Revenue

DUBAI — SITA, a specialist in air transport communication and IT solutions, on Wednesday reported a 3.5 per cent rise in its revenue to $1.42 billion compared to $1.42 in previous year as e-ticketing soars during 2008.

Last year, the 75 airlines SITA support on its e-ticketing platform, issued over 82 million e-tickets compared to just 10.6 million two years ago.

This is a remarkable acceleration of a change that is saving the industry millions as online booking and paperless travel become more prevalent, said Hani El Assaad, Vice-President of the company for Middle East and Turkey.

“In the context of the worsening economic downturn, SITA performed well in 2008. Not only were overall revenues up at $1.472 billion, but for the third year in a row we have won over $1 billion worth of new business,” Assaad said.

SITA reported a steep drop in lost baggage claims which went from 14.2 million in 2007 to 11.9 million last year. Again this is an enormous saving to the industry which is due not just to fewer items of checked baggage but also major improvements in baggage tracking and sorting enabled by both IATA’s Baggage Improvement Programme and SITA technology,” added Assaad.

· abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com