Case Study: British Airways achieves record-fast, cost-effective bmi integration with SITA Express IP

Sita Network and Community Messaging Solutions

British Airways, after acquiring bmi from Lufthansa, faced the urgent ICT challenge of bringing bmi’s operations onto its systems across 14 previously unserved destinations. The airline needed a fast, cost‑efficient, future‑proof connectivity solution that would support common‑use check‑in (CUTE) services with a one‑day cutover and seamless compatibility with existing airport infrastructure — requirements it took to SITA.

SITA delivered its SITA Express IP (IP VPN) network and managed the rollout end‑to‑end, with a single point of contact coordinating LAN changes and CUTE connections; the 14 sites were migrated in around one month instead of the expected 2–3 months. The solution provided predictable, shared pricing, rapid activation (hours/days), interoperability with current and future CUTE technology, and scale for messaging — British Airways now uses SITA Express IP in 98 cities (57 countries) and exchanges over 340 million operational messages yearly via SITA’s community messaging services.

British Airways

Nick Teale

Worldwide Data Networks Manager