SITA to reduce check-in queues in Kathmandu

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has signed a seven-year agreement with SITA Systems, an air transport IT provider, to tackle check-in queues at the country’s main gateway, Tribhuvan International Airport and to support its efforts to attract more tourists to the country.

Long queues are a consequence of the lack of airline common-use facilities at the airport which receives 85 per cent of Nepal’s tourism traffic.

With the introduction of SITA’s common-use platform AirportConnect Open, queues will be reduced and passenger flow through the airport will greatly improve because check-in areas can be used more efficiently, said a press release.

SITA AirportConnect Open is being implemented initially at 24 check-in counters, later expanding to 36.

Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, GM, Tribhuvan International Airport, said,“We selected SITA after an extremely competitive international bidding process. This upgrade to our check-in facilities is timely as we have seen record levels of passenger traffic this year with the heavy promotion of Nepal Tourism Year.”

He expressed hope that passenger numbers are expected to grow further from now until April, the peak tourism period in Nepal. “There was a real boom last year when international airlines serving the country grew their passenger volumes by over 20 per cent and we hope this trend will continue,” he said.