SITA and Middle East Airlines- Air Liban (MEA) have moved the airport’s baggage reconciliation system (BRS) at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut and renewed a technology contract.

By installing SITA’s Bag Manager cloud solution, the air transport hub will be able to process around nine million bags per year compared to three million bags in previous years without any significant equipment investment. Subsequently, the BRS technology will significantly reduce operational costs for the airport and airline, with the server-less design avoiding on-site interventions to refresh, upgrade, maintain and support multiple obsolete devices such as servers.

Dr Adib Charif, Head of IT, MEA, commented: “SITA has been the provider of BRS at Rafic Hariri International Airport – Beirut since 2009, and we’re excited to continue our technology partnership with this next stage of our digitalisation programme. By moving a server-based system to the cloud, we’ve cut down on cumbersome operation procedures, eliminated regular maintenance costs and freed up resources to focus on other essential services. We’re committed to giving passengers a seamless passenger journey and leading the way in the region during the industry recovery.”

Representing around 40% of traffic at the Beirut hub, MEA’s Meedle East Airline Ground Handling (MEAG) represents 80% of the baggage processing at the airport, while the remaining 20% is handled by the Lebanese Air Transport, which has also installed SITA’s cloud-based BRS.

Hani El Asaad, President Middle East and Africa SITA added: “We’ve seen a global trend in the rate of mishandled bags increasing in line with the rapid resumption of international travel. Technology holds the solutions to the challenges our industry is facing during this transformative post-pandemic period, where airports and airlines need to achieve more with less.”

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