Philip Ngunjiri
9 November 2009
Nairobi — Tanzania will benefit from a $20 million, multi-airport systems integration project that will bring many world class services to its three major airports.
The project will be undertaken by the Tanzania Airports Authority and aviation IT giant SITA.
The company specialises in air transport, communication and information technology solutions.
For the first time, Tanzania will witness self-service check-in, baggage reconciliation, sophisticated flight information displays and other improvements.
In the seven-year deal, SITA will provide systems for Terminals 1 and 2 at Julius Nyerere International Airport and at Mwanza and Arusha airports.
These include Tanzania's first common use self-service kiosks which will allow passengers to check in with any airline from any kiosk.
Another significant development will be the introduction of SITA's baggage reconciliation system.
Passenger-bag reconciliation ensures that the right bag gets on the right plane and is assigned to the right passenger.
Mishandled baggage is a global problem, costing the industry $2.9 billion each year.
Tanzania will be one of a few African countries that use the new technology, which has been proven to reduce mishandled baggage rates by five to 15 per cent.
According to TAA director general Prosper Tesha, the investment will support the country's travel and tourism sector, which contributes 9 per cent to Tanzania's gross domestic product each year.
"It will help integrate the latest airport technologies, enabling us to implement these improvements in a co-ordinated and cost-efficient manner."
Passengers will also enjoy improved flight information displays, said Khodr Akil, SITA's regional vice-president, Africa.
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