The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has signed a seven-year agreement with SITA, the air transport IT specialist, to tackle check-in queues at the country’s main gateway, Tribhuvan International Airport and to support its efforts to attract more tourists to the country.

Long queues are a consequence of the lack of airline common-use facilities at the airport which receives 85% of Nepal’s tourism traffic. With the introduction of SITA’s common-use platform AirportConnect Open queues will be reduced and passenger flow through the airport will greatly improve because check-in areas can be used more efficiently. SITA AirportConnect Open is being implemented initially at 24 check-in counters, later expanding to 36.

Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, General Manager, Tribhuvan International Airport, said: "We selected SITA after an extremely competitive international bidding process. This upgrade to our check-in facilities is timely as we have seen record levels of passenger traffic this year with the heavy promotion of Nepal Tourism Year.

"And passenger numbers are expected to grow further from now until April, the peak tourism period in Nepal. There was a real boom last year when international airlines serving the country grew their passenger volumes by over 20% and we hope this trend will continue."

Maneesh Jaikrishna, SITA Country Director for India and Subcontinent, said: "Airlines, airports and governments have increasingly complex requirements. They need consistent passenger processing, reduced congestion and improved passenger flows. AirportConnect Open will provide Tribhuvan International Airport with the flexibility to cope with peaks in traffic during the busiest times of the year for tourism and trade. SITA is very pleased to contribute towards making Nepal a first-class holiday destination."