São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU Airport) and RioGaleão – Tom Jobim International Airport in Brazil are to deploy SITA Flex to provide mobile passenger services, to speed up check-in, bag drop and boarding.
This implementation forms part of a wider five-year contract awarded to SITA, to renew the common-use services at the two airports; approximately 550 common-use touchpoints at GRU Airport and over 250 at RioGaleão.
SITA Flex is designed to better equip airports and airlines to meet the current challenges of capacity, resource constraints and disruptions, as the cloud-based platform takes them beyond the limitations of traditional common-use infrastructure. Instead of fixed check-in counters or kiosks, for example, airlines and airports can deploy more mobile passenger services, such as roving agents on tablets or the ability for passengers to use their cellphones to manage their travel fully. The application programming interface (API) architecture of SITA Flex enables the adoption of existing and future passenger processing innovations, helping to futureproof airport operations.
Travel is rebounding in Brazil following the Covid-19 pandemic. According to IATA, domestic passenger volumes were up 133.3% year-on-year in April 2022. Brazil’s domestic passenger market is now the fourth largest in the world. SITA research has shown a growing appetite for mobile and self-service options, which are linked to higher passenger satisfaction levels. SITA’s 2022 Passenger IT Insights research also reveals opportunities for increasing technology adoption in the early stages of the journey, such as check-in and bag-drop.
Ricardo Suzano, operations coordinator at airline GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes and chair of GRU Airlines Club, said, “We are delighted to renew our services with SITA to upgrade our passenger processing technology and introduce a new mobile self-service capability. These technologies will support our airlines’ existing services while also enabling new cloud-based services to be offered, for more convenient and flexible ways for our passengers to travel.”
Lélia Dias, station manager at British Airways and chair of GIG Airlines Club, said, “As passenger throughput increases, we turned to our long-term partner, SITA, to help deliver a faster and more seamless airport experience. We’re equipping our airport with the latest common-use technology that our partner airlines can also leverage as we collaboratively strive to offer the best travel experience for our passengers.”
Matthys Serfontein, SITA president, Americas, said, “We are committed to developing solutions, harnessing the latest technologies to help the industry’s recovery and overcome future challenges. Deploying SITA Flex at both airports will enable greater efficiencies and agility to reduce bottlenecks as travel rebounds while transforming the passenger experience and futureproofing the airports for the years ahead.”