On May 3, 2007, Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL) announced that it is going live with India's first modern airport management system at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai.

The airport management system has been installed by the global provider of airport IT solutions, SITA. This innovation heralds a significant turning point with a shift from reliance on manual systems to IT-driven automation which enables end-to-end management of airport resources in real-time.

CSIA which is India's busiest airport has witnessed a huge growth of passenger and freight volumes over the last five years. For the period April 2006-March 2007 passenger traffic at CSIA was 22.25 million, up by 21% over the corresponding period in the previous year.

Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, Mumbai International Airport, said, "In line with MIAL's vision of making CSIA a world class airport, we plan to invest in best-in-class technology and systems. SITA's Airport Management Solution will lead to improved performance across the whole spectrum of our activity including more efficient allocation of resources such as departure gates, aircraft slots, check-in counters and baggage carousels to airlines and creating a state-of-the art flight information display for the passengers. It will enable effective co-ordination and real-time availability of information to airport managers and ground-handlers."

Francesco Violante, SITA CEO, speaking in Mumbai, said, "SITA has been very involved in the development of air transport in India. We are proud to be associated with India's aviation revolution through this landmark act of airport modernisation by MIAL."

"Airlines will immediately begin to reap the benefits of the SITA Airport Management Solution as it will give them real-time oversight of the billable services provided by the airport. It will also address any revenue leakage which might otherwise be difficult to pinpoint. The solution provides efficiency and transparency for both airline and airport alike."

Violante who is paying his first visit to India since he was appointed CEO of SITA last year, added, "This development is just as significant as the introduction by SITA of the first CUTE or Common Use Terminal Equipment for airline check-in at Indian airports in 1998. We will also shortly be announcing details of a major expansion in the air-ground VHF communications network that we began building in India twelve years ago and which is now an important part of the shift from reliance on voice communications to datalink."

The full suite of SITA IT Applications included in the airport management system for Mumbai International Airport comprises Airport Central (Airport Operations Data Base); Airport Resource Manager (a Resource Management System); and Airport Vision (Flight Information Display System).

Airport Central provides a centralised database and automated functions for receiving, processing and distributing consolidated operations data and is linked to the "what if" capability of Airport Resource Manager which enables analysis of multiple scenarios for long-range planning.

Airport Vision is based on the latest Internet technology with multi-media capability for the attractive display of key flight information, weather, and other travel information for the travelling public on airport monitors throughout the terminals.