Oman Air has signed a contract with Geneva-based Sita to provide resource management solutions at Muscat International airport.

The deal covers planning, rostering, management and real-time scheduling of work tasks for the airline’s 2,500 employees at the airport. The new system will allow tasks to be communicated to work crews using mobile communications. The system is due to be implemented in early 2012 and the agreement lasts for five years.

“Sita’s sophisticated resource management solution will help Oman Air to optimise all ground operations and lead to a significant increase in productivity,” says Don Hunter, Oman Air’s chief officer, airport operations.

“We will be able to establish new ways of working, while improving aircraft turnaround time with automated work scheduling capability and direct communication to ground crews using mobile devices. It will help us to validate the effectiveness of our flight schedules and calculate accurate costs for all our ground operations. The quality of decision support and operational transparency will also greatly improve our ability to handle any disruptions.”

On 1 April 2011, Oman Air adopted Sita’s software solution for fare management. In September 2009, Oman Air signed a deal with Sita to implement and maintain a network solution aimed at boosting productivity (MEED 8:9:09).