SITAOnAir Acquires GTD Air Services

SITAOnAir has acquired GTD Air Services, the aviation branch of Spanish software provider GTD System & Software Engineering.

Having successfully partnered with GTD Air Services to develop the eWAS portfolio, an electronic weather situational awareness mobile application currently in use by 50,000 pilots worldwide, GTD Air Services will help SITAOnAir develop the next phase of its application portfolio strategy.

The GTD Air Services team will continue to be based in Barcelona, Spain, and operate under a separate entity.

Angel Ramirez, GTD Air Services President, said, “At GTD, we are very proud to have closed this deal with SITAOnAir. After five years of intensive collaboration and important deployment with airlines such as Air France and Singapore Airlines, SITAOnAir has decided to invest in our group's aeronautical subsidiary. This is excellent news for our airline customers and also for our city, Barcelona, southern Europe’s most dynamic region for high-tech companies concentrating their activity on mobile and software technologies."

The deal comes at a time when the number of flights is increasing, and the global fleet is set to double in size within the next 15 years. Increased congestion in the skies brings a host of challenges for airlines, and growing demand for enhanced operations. Among the challenges is a rise in severe weather conditions, which risk the safety of pilots, crews, and passengers, along with potential delays and aircraft damages. Airlines also face pressure to lessen their environmental impact, by reducing unnecessary fuel consumption and limiting turn-around times.

David Lavorel, Chief Executive Officer, SITAOnAir, said, “We believe that embracing a digital shift – from air to ground, from pilots to dispatch – will reinvent the operation of aircraft flight and onboard experience, making it safer, more efficient, more environmentally sustainable and enjoyable. In this context, weather and situational awareness solutions like eWAS, combined with SITAOnAir’s Digital Day of Operations application portfolio, are becoming vital, strategic tools for both pilots and dispatchers, connecting them with real-time information at their fingertips. It is imperative we support pilots and airlines to enhance their digital operations so they can avoid the avoidable. Now, with GTD Air Services experts on-board, we present an even stronger offering to our customers, and we look forward to our venture taking shape.”

Details of the acquisition have not been released.

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