SITAONAIR has announced the acquisition of GTD Air Services – the aviation branch of Spanish software provider GTD System & Software Engineering – in an expansion of its application ambition and vision.
Having successfully partnered with GTD Air Services to develop the eWAS portfolio – an electronic weather situational awareness mobile applications currently in use by 50,000 pilots worldwide – GTD Air Services will join SITAONAIR under the next phase of its application portfolio strategy.
The acquisition will enrich SITAONAIR’s existing Digital Day of Operations application portfolio, and reflect its belief that embracing a digital shift will help reinvent the operation of aircraft, flights and the passenger experience, making flying safer, more efficient, enjoyable and sustainable.
SITAONAIR is pleased to welcome the versatile and innovative team from GTD Air Services, who have a proven record for successfully developing state-of-the-art weather and mobile applications for airline professionals, as well as a strong start-up culture of agility and co-innovation.
The GTD Air Services team will continue to be based in Barcelona, Spain, and operate under a separate entity, in order to preserve its creativity and product development dynamic. It will also enhance, through its growth, the Digital Day of Operations application development capacity for SITAONAIR and be integrated within the wider SITA group ecosystem.
Angel Ramirez, GTD Air Services President, says: “At GTD, we are very proud to have closed this deal with SITAONAIR. After five years of intensive collaboration and important deployment with airlines such as Air France and Singapore Airlines, SITAONAIR has decided to invest in our group’s aeronautical subsidiary. This is excellent news for our airline customers and also for our city, Barcelona, southern Europe’s most dynamic region for high-tech companies concentrating their activity on mobile and software technologies.”
The deal comes at a time when the number of flights is increasing, and the global fleet is set to double in size within the next 15 years. Increased congestion in the skies brings a host of challenges for airlines, and growing demand for enhanced operations. Among the challenges is a rise in severe weather conditions, which risk the safety of pilots, crews, and passengers, along with potential delays and aircraft damages. Airlines also face pressure to lessen their environmental impact, by reducing unnecessary fuel consumption and limiting turn-around times.
David Lavorel, Chief Executive Officer, SITAONAIR, says: “We believe that embracing a digital shift – from air to ground, from pilots to dispatch – will reinvent the operation of aircraft flight and onboard experience, making it safer, more efficient, more environmentally sustainable and enjoyable. In this context, weather and situational awareness solutions like eWAS, combined with SITAONAIR’s Digital Day of Operations application portfolio, are becoming vital, strategic tools for both pilots and dispatchers, connecting them with real-time information at their fingertips.
“It is imperative we support pilots and airlines to enhance their digital operations so they can avoid the avoidable. Now, with GTD Air Services experts on-board, we present an even stronger offering to our customers, and we look forward to our venture taking shape.”
