Global air transport industry technology solutions group SITA announced on Friday that it had completed all the legal procedures and regulatory formalities for its acquisition of Germany-based international automated passenger handling services provider, Materna IPS. This was a strategic acquisition by SITA, which strengthened its position in areas such as biometrics (henceforth serving 85% of international air travellers, worldwide), Common Use Terminal Equipment, and Common Use Self-Service Kiosks, and made it number one in terms of market share in solutions such as Self Bag-Drop.

“Our focus will now move to unifying our teams as we work towards combining our solutions and expertise,” reported SITA CEO David Lavorel. “With the extraordinary talent and innovative solutions brought to the table by both SITA and Materna IPS, we’ll create a unique and unbeatable portfolio of solutions. With this, passengers around the world will be able to look forward to a much easier and more seamless way of travelling as we reshape the future of travel.”

According to SITA, this acquisition would create the strongest passenger portfolio for both airports and digital travel. Further, it represented an “unprecedented” boost for the digitalisation of the worldwide aviation industry. It would result in streamlined check-in, baggage handling and security procedures, which in turn would mean reduced waiting times and smoother journeys for passengers.

“All this will impact the entire travel industry in a very positive way as it tackles challenges to meet pressing industry demands for increased terminal capacities and best-in-class secure solutions leading to easy travel for all passengers,” affirmed SITA. “It’ll allow the industry to transform airports from simple transit hubs to digital, personalised experiences for travellers across the world. The integrated solutions portfolio will let airports process more passengers and optimise resources to give travellers a better experience.”

SITA already had about 2 500 customers and its systems are in use at more than 1 000 airports around the world. It also provides combined secure border and seamless travel technology solutions to more than 70 governments. Entirely owned by the air transport industry, it is active in more than 200 countries and territories. Its near-term and long-term carbon emission reduction strategies were approved by the Science Based Targets initiative last year. SITA must not be confused with South Africa’s State Information Technology Agency, which uses the same acronym.