Marisa Garcia Malta International Airport has signed a deal with SITA which will transfer management of the airport’s day-to-day ICT (Information and Communications Technology) operations to the aviation industry technology company.
Enlisting SITA’s expertise in this aspect of airport operations will help Malta International Airport better focus on strategic investment and innovation as the airport works on a terminal expansion to accommodate growing passenger numbers, the technology company states.
“We recognise that developing our ICT infrastructure is fundamental to our future growth. In light of this, we are delighted to be partnering with SITA, the market leader in this industry, and look forward to working together on a digital blueprint to meet our future demands,” said Alan Borg, CEO of Malta International Airport.
The airport served 4.62 million passengers in 2015 and expects over 2% passenger growth this year. It has also announced plans for terminal improvements, including a €28m terminal expansion.
It has recently been reported that national carrier Air Malta could be purchased by Etihad Airways partner Alitalia.
Of the 1.7 million tourists who visited Malta in 2014, 97.1% travelled to the island nation by air, according to a 2015 report by the Malta Tourism Board.
From Malta Tourism Authority 2015 Report- Visitor numbers to Malta are overwhelmingly holiday makers: 1.3 million in 2014.
- Business travellers accounted for just over 130,000 of Malta’s visitors in 2014.
- Malta hosted 86,000 CIT (Conference and Incentive Travel) business travellers in 2014.
- 33% of visitors to Malta are attracted by the destination’s “value for money.”
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In the most recent report issued by the Airports Council International–Europe, Malta ranks 85th in YTD passenger numbers (March 2016), serving 812.584 passengers, a growth of 15.7% over last year and 20.1% higher than the same period in 2014.
“As a global supplier of end-to-end solutions to the broader air transport industry, we are in the unique position of being able to support the full gamut of airport, airline, and government systems found in airports today. This allows us to take our service to the industry a step further, by managing the end-to-end ICT infrastructure for airports while guiding their future investment to ensure cost savings and improved service delivery,” said Dave Bakker, SITA President, Europe.
