Air Transport Communications and IT Solutions

SITA today announced that airlines have started to use SITATEX Online, an innovative web-based version of the market-leading SITATEX messaging platform. SITA's new service, launched at the 13th annual Ground Handling International Conference in Barcelona, is an easy-to-use and cost-effective web-based operational mail service designed specifically for air transport industry professionals.

Users of SITATEX currently exchange over 800 million industry-standard operational messages every year to more than 20,000 recipients across the air transport industry. This information exchange keeps the industry running allowing airlines, their suppliers and various partners to collaborate in an optimal and reliable way. The ground-breaking community service, SITATEX Online, is delivered using a software-as-a-service model, as part of SITA's cloud strategy, making the solution simple and cost-effective to implement and operate.

Assane Oueddo, SITA Vice President Communications and Infrastructure, said: "The use of XML technology, combined with the ubiquitous reach of the Internet, is offering alternatives to our industry allowing it to rethink and improve the way it exchanges information and collaborates.

"SITATEX Online is our response to the changing operational mail services needs of the industry's professionals and is one of the key milestones in our new generation messaging transformation. We are currently conducting SITATEX Online pilot projects with airlines and ground handlers around the world and because of the obvious benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness and user friendliness, and because it is so easy to implement and operate, we expect that adoption will be fast."

Single-user licences of SITATEX Online are available for small organisations that only require a mail service while enterprise licences provide larger and multi-site organisations with the ability to easily administer, and seamlessly roll-out, an operational mail service to multiple users regardless of their site and location. In addition, SITATEX Online enterprise subscribers will benefit from having all the messages exchanged between users on the enterprise license transmitted free of charge. And because SITATEX Online is centrally managed it doesn't require any onsite support and enjoys SITA's 24/7 customer support.

The new service complements SITA's existing SITATEX service. It is fully developed in XML using IATA type standards and offering connectivity to Type X, Type B, SMTP, X400 and FAX through SITA's messaging gateways.

Provided as a software-as-a-service (SaaS), SITATEX Online is device and operating system independent. It runs on PC, Mac or Linux and will work seamlessly with the leading web browsers including Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome.

As an extension to SITATEX Online, SITA is also launching SKYFORM Online, its service option which supports specific requirements of aircraft parts procurement and SPEC2000 users.

Airlines created SITA in 1949 to provide a messaging service and messaging is still central to SITA's unique role in the industry. SITA's community messaging services are used by more than 800 airlines, 700 airports and 250 airfreight customers worldwide. These services guarantee that messages are delivered and received anywhere in the world. With SITATEX Online the latest cloud technologies are harnessed to do this in the most efficient way possible.