Summary
- Swiss aviation IT giant SITA is set to exit Russia this fall, potentially causing disruptions to international services.
- SITA provides essential aviation IT services to over 2,500 clients in 200 countries, including 1,000 airports.
- While Russian authorities claim to have domestic IT solutions in place, the withdrawal could still present challenges for airlines and airports operating in Russia.
Aviation tech company SITA is preparing to exit Russia this fall, potentially disrupting international Russian flights. However, Russian authorities claim the move will not impact flights, as the majority of SITA services were already switched off in 2022.
SITA to leave Russia soon
As announced back in May, Swiss tech firm SITA will go through with its withdrawal from Russia within the next couple of months. The company had initially aimed to exit the country by July, but will now do so by the end of September.
SITA provides a wide range of aviation IT services, such as booking systems, baggage tracking and flight messaging, and claims that around 90% of the global aviation industry relies on its services.
Why is this important?
SITA’s ‘Aviation SWIFT’ channel is how airlines and airports worldwide transmit information to one another. Over 2,500 clients in 200 countries, including 1,000 airports, use the technology, which powers around 90% of international flights worldwide. Without it, Russian airlines – and foreign carriers flying to and from Russian airports – would face multiple problems if a solution isn’t reached.
As a source explained to the RBC,
“Due to the outage scheduled for the end of September, Russian carriers will no longer be able to transfer flight, passenger and baggage data to the information systems of international airports through SITA gateways.”
For example, foreign airlines would have trouble using their check-in and baggage systems at Russian airports if relying on SITA tech….
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