Air transport IT specialist SITA has recently announced its approval as an electronic fares filing agent by both the US Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

Published: 05 Apr 2011

Air transport IT specialist SITA has recently announced its approval as an electronic fares filing agent by both the US Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

SITA now provides airlines with an alternative system to distribute fares data to global distribution systems (GDSs) and online travel agents (OTAs) covering travel to, from and within the USA and Canada.

Up until now airlines have not been able to choose how they distribute their fares when operating in this region as there was only one approved filing agent, but with these decisions, which are effective immediately, SITA is now cleared to provide a choice to airlines, according to the company.

The company says this development is an another important milestone in SITA’s multi-phase strategy to provide airlines with an alternative to the existing fares distribution system in North America.

“A number of our customers have been waiting for this approval to enable them to move all their fares data to SITA. We will now actively engage not only with these airlines, but also with the GDSs, OTAs and pricing system providers, to deliver on our promise of an alternative fare filing offering in this region,” said Brian Cook, SITA Vice President Passenger Solutions.

As part of SITA’s Total Fares Management, the company provides integrated decision-making and distribution processes.

“Airlines that use this service now have true end-to-end fares management and are able to perform sophisticated competitive analysis for fares in the market, decide on the appropriate fares and get them approved and distributed in North America and worldwide,” stated the company.