SITA takes off with Cathay Pacific to expand global network connectivity

Award-wining airline Cathay Pacific has inked a deal with air transport industry IT provider SITA to increase network bandwidth at its airports, with the aim of improving current capacity by up to five times while maintaining cost efficiency.

With around 2,500 customers, SITA’s offerings see use at more than 1,000 airports, delivering a connected aircraft experience to customers of more than 18,000 aircraft globally. The company said its communications network connects every corner of the globe, bridging 45% of the air transport community’s data exchange.

The flag carrier of the Chinese special administrative region, Cathay Pacific has been connecting its home city of Hong Kong to the world for almost 80 years. The airline was an early adopter of the original Connect solution from SITA, which was designed to offer secure, reliable and flexible network connectivity solutions to meet ever-improving passenger experiences globally.

The latest collaboration aims to provide Cathay Pacific with enhanced network connectivity across 51 global airports through the newly launched SITA Connect Go at Airports product, which combines dual internet connectivity to provide bandwidth of up to 300Mbps.

SITA said deploying Connect Go will facilitate a substantial bandwidth increase of up to five times the current capacity. This improvement will ensure enhanced efficiency and connectivity while maintaining cost optimisation.

Using the new SITA airport infrastructure will allow Cathay Pacific to continue its smooth transition to cloud applications, enhancing overall operational efficiency and scalability. Connect Go also includes three gateways, which are designed to ensure optimal performance for legacy applications, facilitating the continued use of existing systems while achieving improved performance and connectivity globally.

The contract includes a planned 12-month design, build, test and implementation period to cover all airports involved in the project. These include London Heathrow and Manchester in the UK, and a further eight in North America.

SITA also believes that Connect Go can offer rapid deployment thanks to pre-connected and resilient APH-V infrastructure. This is attributed with allowing swift implementation of necessary infrastructure and connectivity across Cathay Pacific’s network to reduce downtime and disruption, while offering flexible packaging and customisable options that will allow the company to tailor connectivity requirements based on specific needs, thereby optimising network services while maintaining cost efficiency.

The implementation phase, which started in April 2024, is expected to be completed early in the second quarter of 2025, at which point it will become fully operational across 51 airports.

“Airlines across the world have a clear need for strong and robust airport infrastructure so that we can centre our attention on providing the optimal passenger experience,” said Rajeev Nair, general manager of IT infrastructure and security at Cathay Pacific.

“SITA Connect has been helping us deliver efficient operations at airports for several years and we are confident that this renewed partnership with SITA will allow us to significantly increase the network capacity of our existing network in the most cost-effective way, enabling us to further enhance our operational efficiency and allowing us to continue focusing all our efforts on our customers.”