Beside operational efficiency, Michael Lim, Global Head for Business Development of SITA Government Solutions Line, says one of the key elements of SITA's facilitation and security is the need to strengthen security.

Traditionally, security has been limited to checking passengers when they arrived at the airport. In the 1990s, passengers furnished their data for checking in, to facilitate travel faster and to enable authorities to ascertain any potential risk that a particular passenger might present.

In China, before the Olympics, SITA worked with the Chinese government to get passenger data: name, age, address, identity (ID) card or passport number, country of origin, and country of departure. This information was acquired before passengers arrived at the capital, allowing some 260,000 passengers a day to be handled through self-service infrastructure desks.

In addition, the traveler's particulars were transferred in real time to Beijing to give authorities more time to assess passenger arrivals. "We help the government to understand the data cross referenced with the airlines' reservation systems. The check-in system, which has been in place since 1949, has been continually updated," Lim expounds.

"We compare the data with airport user groups and airline user groups. We also hold one to one discussions with governments on how to share the expectations from one government to another," he explains.

Ilya says that SITA's business is business to business (B2B), focusing on airlines and airports. "We look at how passengers behave from the time they surf the web for tickets, to the time they go to the airport, to their casual shopping at the airport, to the time they get on the plane, and finally, get their luggage and leave the airport."

As SITA is owned by major aviation industry players, the Chief Information Officers of airlines sit on its board. They attend regular user workshops to brain storm ideas to allow SITA to come up with solutions to solve challenges faced by airlines and airports.

Through the process, SITA has been able to help shorten passenger check-in and check-out queues at airports. For passengers that means time saved, fewer hassles with having to queue up for check-in, a reduction in tedious arrival procedures. It gives passengers back their time - so they don't have to wait as long for the services they paid for.

(HK Edition 07/05/2013 page6)