Air Malta 'to save' Lm2.15m through ICT deal

Air Malta will save about €5 million (Lm2.15 million) over the next seven years through outsourcing of its information and communication technology network, IT and Investment Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday.

Dr Gatt pointed out that the new ICT strategy should eventually lead to a call centre, e-ticketing possibilities and the opportunity to buy tickets online, a revamp of the website and online check-in.

Moreover, the international organisation SITA, which will be running the airline's ICT network from April 1, will be making a €4 million investment in Air Malta over the seven-year contract period.

The minister said a principal goal was to use IT to give the airline's management the right information on which to make the correct business decisions. He said that although the airline had highly capable IT employees, it still lacked an ICT strategy.

Air Malta director Joseph Fenech Conti stressed the importance of ICT for the airline. "Failure of the IT system means failure of the airline," he said.

SITA chief executive Kohl Hammer pointed out that over the past two years, the 57-year-old organisation had saved the air transport industry about $230 million.

The organisation is considered to be the world's leading service provider of IT solutions and communications services to the air transport community. SITA, based in Geneva, had revenues of $1.582 billion in 2004.

Mr Fenech Conti said 18 of the airline's staff members will be seconded to SITA and a three-strong team will remain at Air Malta.

He described the contract, which took around three months to be finalised, as a "win-win situation" through which Air Malta will cut costs and have a significantly better system. Apart from that employees will have the chance to work with a premier IT company and gain experience.

Air Malta and SITA are also studying the transfer to Malta of back-office functions like call centres, processing of sales orders and revenue accounting. Dr Gatt explained that similar IT initiatives were taking place in a number of other companies, including Enemalta, the Water Services Corporation and Public Broadcasting Services.