On April 26, China Southern Airlines announced the selection of SITA's Integration Platform solution to develop their e-ticketing strategy and to establish links to Travelsky GDS and partner airlines.

Jerry Hu, Chief Information Officer for China Southern Airlines, said, "We have negotiated long and hard before making this decision. China Southern Airlines chose SITA's Integration Platform because it will help us to optimize our IT capacity and support our goal of becoming Asia's number one airline. A significant advantage for us is that SITA has the widest network coverage with global GDS."

China Southern Airlines carried 49.21 million passengers in 2006, with revenue of 46.54 billion yuan (US$5.97 billion). China Southern Airlines operated 259 modern Boeing 777, 747, 757, 737, and Airbus A330, 321, 320 and 300 jet aircraft, on more than 600 domestic and international routes serving 142 cities throughout China, Asia and the rest of the world.

Paul Dalton, SITA Regional Vice-President, said, "This is a significant milestone for SITA as it is our first signed agreement with a Chinese carrier. It is also a strong validation of our claim to have the market leading travel application. The SITA Integration Platform is unique because it can interact with the complete range of travel application protocols including airline reservations systems and GDSs as well as new applications such as Internet and self-service interfaces.

"This IT solution is highly scalable and enables airlines to respond quickly to changing needs. It can drive business transformation through the efficient development of more sales channels and can impress passengers by providing services such as frequent flyer and SMS notification up to three times faster."