SITA (company)

SITA

Type	Private
Industry	Air transport communications and information technology
Predecessor	Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques
Headquarters	Geneva
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Barbara Dalibard (CEO),
Services	Airline and cargo operations Commercial management and passenger operations Flight operations Aircraft operations Air-to-ground communications Airport management and operations Baggage operations Transportation security and border management Communications and infrastructure Outsourcing services
Revenue	US$1.63 billion
Number of employees	4,700
Subsidiaries	CHAMP Cargosystems Aviareto OnAir
Website	www.sita.aero

SITA is a multinational information technology company providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry. The company provides its services to over 430 members and 2,800 customers worldwide which is around 90% of the world's airline business.

SITA or Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, was founded in February 1949 by eleven airlines in order to bring about shared infrastructure cost efficiency by combining their communications networks. The eleven original airlines were: Air France, KLM, Sabena, Swissair, TWA, British European Airways Corporation (BEAC), British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), British South American Airways (BSAA), Swedish A.G.Aerotransport, Danish Air Lines, and Norwegian Air Lines. SITA was the first company to handle data traffic in real time via a packet switched network over common carrier leased lines.

In 1989 computer reservations systems, aerospace manufacturers, tour operators, airfreight forwarders, airport authorities, and other organizations in the air transport industry began joining SITA as members. The company today provides a range of IT solutions as well as infrastructure and communication services for the air transport industry, having evolved from its early days of providing only network related services.

SITA presently operates in over two hundred countries and territories, and its customers include airlines, airports, airfreight — international freight forwarders, travel and distribution — global distribution systems, governments, aerospace, ground handlers and air traffic control.