SITA enables easyJet to go mobile across Europe

SITA today announced the rollout of innovative mobile services for easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, which carries more than 58 million passengers each year. SITA, the communications provider for the air transport industry, is supplying easyJet with a fully-managed solution which allows the airline to use its in-house applications on mobile devices at over 130 airports in Europe from which it flies.

SITA’s fully-managed mobile services include 3G and wireless connectivity across 190 countries, providing cost-effective and seamless roaming for mobile usage. easyJet will use SITA’s services to access its in-house Halo application, which allows easyJet airport agents to be fully mobile using handheld computers. SITA is also providing easyJet with Motorola Solutions ruggedized mobile computers that have built-in barcode scanners, WLAN and WWAN capability, and chip and pin readers. These devices help easyJet provide full passenger services from anywhere in the airport.

SITA is also working closely with industry experts B2M Solutions to integrate its Mobile Process Optimization Platform, mprodigy, into the overall solution for easyJet. The resulting analytics enable easyJet to develop best practice processes across its Halo users, at the outset focusing on baggage payment and boarding to improve aircraft turnaround times.

The five-year agreement will initially include 100 devices being deployed at six airports which will enable the boarding of approximately 55,000 easyJet flights. Additional airports will be considered during the first six months of operation and easyJet plans to have up to 1,500 handheld terminals at 130 airports across Europe.

Trevor Didcock, CIO, easyJet, said: “At easyJet it is all about flexibility. We need to be agile and mobile, providing the same great service to our passengers at, and within, any airport to which we choose to fly. We’ve developed the Halo application to provide our employees with a range of applications via mobile devices and SITA will enable us to rollout and manage these across Europe, in a consistent and controlled way.

“We’ve worked with SITA on project Halo for several years now and they are our chosen provider because of a combination of geographic coverage, a great partnership with Motorola and other vendors, and a capability to offer a fully-managed end-to-end service that offers real value for money.”

easyJet’s project Halo was designed to handle seasonal changes in passenger demand proactively and also to mobilize a number of business processes. Given the multiple locations where easyJet operates, SITA’s solution needed to provide a single approach for the airline across all its locations and accommodate its seasonal route changes.

Rukmini Glanard, SITA Vice President, Communications and Infrastructure, said: “At SITA we provide the complete end-to-end mobile solution including integration to multiple applications, our Wireless@Airports services and full mobile data access. Our partnerships with Motorola and other device providers mean that airlines, such as easyJet, have a single supplier for their global mobile needs.

“The move across the industry is to mobile; our latest survey of airlines shows that by 2015 mobile will be beyond the tipping point – shaping every aspect of the travel experience. At SITA, we are ready to help airlines be fully mobile.”

As the community provider to the air transport industry, SITA offers a single end-to-end solution that combines specific business applications knowledge with global mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity, and device supply and management. Its ability to ensure global deployment of mobile solutions is backed up by its 24/7 service and support, which includes a dedicated Mobility Center of Excellence.

In addition to its work with easyJet, SITA is working on mobility projects solutions for cabin crew, electronic flight bags, baggage management, resource management and mobile check-in and boarding with several leading airlines across the world.