Egyptian Airports Company (EAC) has signed a six-year, multimillion-dollar contract with Geneva-based air transport solutions provider Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques (Sita) in a bid to modernise five of its largest airports and offer enhanced passenger experience.

The solutions will be implemented at the international airports of Sharm el-Sheikh, Borg el-Arab, Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simble. An estimated 10.5 million passengers go through these airports annually, with annual growth expected to average 14 per cent.

EAC will be implementing a combination of Sita’s technologies including the airport management system and the latest baggage solutions that would allow self-service solutions for passengers, among other services.

Sita’s airport operational database and resource manager will provide EAC with an integrated view of operations and utilise active dashboards to monitor and manage both flights and resources. The EAC will also implement Sita’s departure control system, which will allow its operations team to execute check-in and boarding of chartered flights the same way as regular commercial flights.

The advanced baggage solution will process at least 5 million bags annually. It will integrate reconciliation, tracking, tracing and messaging, which together should significantly enhance EAC’s baggage management.

Tourism is an important source of revenues in Egypt and managing tourism traffic during the seasonal peaks and troughs presents challenges.

“It is important to have the right resources for the peaks without having expensive redundant capacity during the troughs,” says Hani el-Assaad, president of Sita Middle East and Africa.

Sita’s airport management systems are reportedly used by 150 airports worldwide, including Abu Dhabi’s Midfield Terminal.