Amadeus’ Airport IT business has firmly established itself in the North American region with the acquisition of AirIT, previously wholly-owned by Fraport AG. It is the second acquisition of well-established airport industry players for Amadeus in the past 15 months.
With this acquisition Amadeus significantly expands its presence and its capabilities to serve the North American market, a key region for the airport IT sector. AirIT’s solutions are used by 30 of the top 50 busiest airports in the US including Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and Charlotte.
AirIT uniquely complements Amadeus’ business with a strong customer base that encompasses more than 115 airlines and 120 airports predominately in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean.
Airports often seek property and revenue management systems in conjunction with airport management systems. This acquisition will allow Amadeus to be more responsive to those customer needs outside of North America by combining its existing airport management solutions with the AirIT PROPworks® portfolio, a highly configurable, scalable property and revenue management solution for airports of all sizes that allows for management of contracts, invoices, sales, tenants and more. PROPworks® is already used by four of the five busiest airports in the United States.
John Jarrell, Head of Airport IT for Amadeus, said: "As the pace of recovery picks up over the next few years, the North American market, already the biggest airport IT market in the world, will represent an enormous opportunity for growth. With this acquisition, Amadeus accelerates the expansion of its Airport IT business in the region, gaining both a solid customer base and a highly experienced team, to provide innovative solutions to our customers".
"We look forward to joining the Amadeus team," said Betros Wakim, CEO of AirIT. "We share a similar culture of innovation. This fact is exemplified in our passenger processing solutions. Amadeus’ Airport Common Use Service solution and the AirIT EASE platform both demonstrate industry-defining contemporary approaches to delivering airline common use.
There are clearly dynamic synergies between the two companies, which will further enhance our ability to deliver complete end-to-end solutions to our respective customers globally. With our combined offerings, expertise, and infrastructure, we believe that we will have the opportunity to serve our customers even better."
As a result of the transaction approximately 70 employees, including AirIT’s management team, will become part of Amadeus’ Airport IT business.