SITA – Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques
SITA is a multinational information technology company specializing in providing Information Technology (IT) and telecommunications services to the aviation community. SITA was founded in February 1949 by 11 airlines (10 European companies and TWA - Trans World Airlines) as a cooperative providing communications between airports and airlines. Known at that time as Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, the company has evolved from its early days of providing only network services as a cooperative, and today provides a range of IT as well as communication services to its Members. Owned by the industry, it is guided by around 400 air transport owner-members around the world. Based in Geneva, SITA has some 4,500 employees worldwide, including around 350 in Montreal.
Presently, SITA serves more than 2,500 customers worldwide. This includes airlines, airports, aerospace companies, air freight organizations and governments. Serving the aviation industry means that SITA needs to be present in all countries where the aviation industry operates, and today SITA operates in over 200 countries and territories. SITA provides solutions pertaining to aircraft operations, airport operations, baggage and cargo operations, commercial management, communications and infrastructure, passenger operations and transportation security.
As one of the most internationally diverse companies, SITA has a strong local presence - with offices spanning the globe. In all matters having a bearing on telecommunications, data processing and transmission between enterprises, SITA cooperates with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and other international and national governmental bodies.
By meeting Member airlines worldwide telecommunication needs, SITA enables them to fulfill their responsibilities under the Annexes to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. In this respect, the SITA network complements the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network (AFTN) operating under the auspices of ICAO. Through the SITA system, the telecommunications facilities of the world airlines are linked together for use on a shared basis under their full control.
In 2019, SITA celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding.
On 9 September 2021, SITA announced it had achieved CarbonNeutral® company certification. This major milestone, realized a full year ahead of SITA’s original target of 2022, resulted from decisive actions to significantly reduce emissions associated with its business operations in 2020. SITA’s UN recognized carbon neutrality Planet+ program had been key to lowering the company’s emissions with initiatives designed to create sustainable and energy-efficient workplaces and reduce internal business travel.
As of 2021, SITA had been able to offer an "A to Z" solution to airlines to reduce their fuel consumption (one of their main expenses) and therefore their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It compiles a multitude of data making it possible to determine what is the optimum speed during take-off, the altitude to be reached during the cruising phase as well as when to initiate the landing phase; the company also analyzes wind speed, weather data and atmospheric pressure to improve journeys. Montreal hosts, along with Singapore, one of the two surveillance centers in which SITA remotely manages airports all over the world. It is also in the Montreal facilities, which play a "key role", that SITA had partly developed its flight optimization solutions. It took five years to deliver a complete solution for the optimization of aircraft consumption. During the next step, SITA will be focusing on optimizing the consumption of aircraft during ground movements.
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SITA Service cover (with its 50th anniversary logo) sent to ICAO. Postmarked on 12 March 1998.
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Emblem in existence until the end of 2018. |
New emblem introduced towards the end of 2018. |
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