According to the SITA 2017 Air Transport IT Trends Insights Airlines and Airports are estimated to spend nearly US$33 billion on IT this year, and they are focusing their technology investments on similar priorities. Top of the agenda for both are investments in cyber security and cloud services.

 

SITA’s research of the world’s airlines and airports shows that airlines’ spending as a percentage of revenue will rise to an estimated 3.30% or US$24.3 billion in 2017. For airports, the rise is to an expected 5.05% for this year or US$8.43 billion. Looking ahead to 2018 over 70% of airlines and 88% of airports are expecting IT spend to increase or remain at the same levels as it is today.

 

As IT spend increases, both airlines and airports agree that the number one priority for their investments is cyber security. 95% of airlines and 96% of airports – plan to invest in major programs or R&D on cyber security initiatives over the next three years.

 

Cloud services are another top investment priority with 95% of airlines and 85% of airports planning to invest in them over the next three years. The third key area of investment that was highlighted by both airlines and airports is to provide extra self-service options to passengers.

 

SITA’s IT Trends are well established as the global benchmark research for the air transport industry. Senior IT executives at the top airlines and airports took part in the research earlier this year. The 2017 results once again provide a clear insight on the air transport industry’s IT strategic thinking and developments.