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NT Bureau
Chennai, May 23:

        Sri Lankan Airlines has introduced a state-of-the-art passenger handling system at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), further enhancing the level of convenience for travellers.

        The national carrier is the sole ground handler at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and provides services for all airlines that use the country's only international airport, which includes handling of passengers, baggage, cargo, and in-flight catering.

        Nigel O Shea, head of service delivery at Sri Lanka, said: 'This is the latest step in SriLankan Airlines' continuous efforts to support Sri Lanka's aviation industry. It is a momentous event for BIA, and represents a technological leap forward. The system has an array of benefits for passengers at check-in and boarding, and several of our most important customer airlines encouraged us to install it.'

        The Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system was commissioned recently at BIA in the presence of the management of SriLankan Airlines, representatives of several customer airlines, and officials of SITA, a global information and telecommunication solutions provider for the air transport industry, which supplied the system.

        CUTE is designed for the sharing of information on a real-time basis between the airport ground handler, in this case, Sri Lankan - and the systems of operating carriers.

        Yohan Pathirana, manager, Airport service delivery, said: 'This project involved the efforts of Sri Lankan Airlines, SITA and customer airlines. Our airport staff has already been given the necessary training to handle the system.'

        CUTE has enabled check-in counters at BIA to handle new innovations and advancements in air travel, such as 100 per cent e-ticketing, providing direct connectivity to frequent flyer programmes of customer airlines, better integration for through check-in, facilities for on-line check-in, the use of bar-coded boarding passes, and passport swipe capabilities.

        Sabri Duser, project manager, SITA, said: 'The installation of CUTE at BIA was a perfect example of teamwork, with SITA providing the system and Sri Lankan's staff handling the integration into the airline's existing systems very efficiently.'