President, Europe, SITA (Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques)
Sergio Colella (SITA Europe) : Avec la crise, le secteur aérien réoriente ses investissements
Ce mardi 11 janvier, Sergio Colella, président de SITA Europe, est revenu sur l'investissement dans l'aérien, la crise que traverse le transport aérien, et sur les solutions technologiques pour tous les aéroports du monde, dans l'émission Good Morning Business présentée par Sandra Gandoin et Christophe Jakubyszyn. Good Morning Business est à voir ou écouter du lundi au vendredi sur BFM Business. 👋 Bienvenue sur la chaîne YouTube officielle de BFM Business, première chaîne d'information économique et financière de France.
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Transcript (19 segments)
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Interviewer0:09
Good morning, Business. We're with the President of SITA Europe, Sergio Colella. Hello!
Sergio, SITA works for all airlines, all airports. You basically optimize information systems between airlines, passenger information, routes, and aircraft performance optimization. We're going to discuss all of that with you. Isn't it complicated to deliver your message today, which is that we need to continue investing massively in aviation, while air transport is going through a crisis it can't seem to escape?
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Sergio Colella0:46
Absolutely, you're right. It's the worst crisis air transport has seen in 70 years of history. These crises have been longer, more impactful, and I would even say more severe than any we've ever experienced.
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Interviewer1:00
Remind us of the losses. Global losses according to IATA are 200 billion dollars, 100 billion over two years for airlines and airports. That's something we've never seen. Yet the SITA group, you generate about 1.7 billion euros in revenue, employ 4,700 staff. You're essentially the back office of aviation. You say we still need to invest massively in order to survive, first to reduce operational costs, then to streamline passenger flow and ensure health security for passengers. Let's start with this point: how will SITA improve the consumer and traveler experience?
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Sergio Colella1:48
It's fundamental. We need to make sure the passenger experience remains pleasant, smooth, and secure. You should know that the impact of the health crisis on airport procedures and passenger processing is equivalent to the impact of the September 11, 2001 attacks in terms of verification and controls. Of course, we're not checking for terrorism weapons, we're checking for health security elements. For example, we still see airline employees checking health documents on paper. That's not normal.
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Interviewer2:22
Absolutely not.
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Sergio Colella2:24
The rules are quite complex. They differ from one country to another, even depending on the passenger's transit country. So we need to harmonize, digitalize this experience, and make sure the journey begins before arriving at the airport. The whole secret is making sure the journey starts before all documents are ready, at boarding, at arrival at your destination.
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Interviewer2:51
Concretely, Air France has set up 'Ready to Fly.' When your health pass is up to date, you get the Ready to Fly from Air France.
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Sergio Colella2:56
It was built by Air France and us, and Air France and other airlines need to make sure this information is shared by all actors who ensure your trip goes smoothly — departure airport, intermediate connection, arrival airport, border control, baggage handlers. All this information must flow smoothly throughout the entire travel process. The goal is to optimize the traveler's journey.
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Interviewer3:24
Will this ultimately mean fewer staff in airports and airlines?
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Sergio Colella3:30
Not at all, they'll just be allocated differently. It's a good question — it's probably a different allocation. What needs to happen, as in all processes and in industry, is creating a digital path, a digital experience alongside the physical experience, so that simple tasks are handled automatically. There's no point checking 100% of people on certain elements. It's important to do controls where necessary and streamline the traveler experience.
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Interviewer4:06
The other revolution hitting air transport hard is the ecological revolution — the need for air transport to pollute less, emit less CO2. New aircraft are coming to market, biofuels, but also other ways of flying. How can SITA help airlines fly while consuming less? How do you do it?
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Sergio Colella4:33
You've all experienced a flight where the plane takes off, flies to the destination area, then circles in the air waiting for a slot to open up. An aircraft is built to fly at altitude. For example, 5% of average kerosene consumption is used just for taxiing on the tarmac — that's a waste. A large quantity is also used for climb and descent phases. Thanks to big data and particularly well-adapted software, we can optimize up to 10% of kerosene consumption on a flight. That means without changing aircraft or model, we can reduce consumption by 10% overnight with the right tools.
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Interviewer5:25
And you acquired a startup about a year ago.
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Sergio Colella5:28
Yes, CityLive, which was featured on this show. The idea is to optimize routes, climb and descent phases, and taxiing on the tarmac to achieve energy savings — like in cars — to optimize kerosene consumption and therefore CO2 consumption.
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Interviewer5:51
And so on a short-haul flight like Paris-Nice, on an Airbus A320 with three tonnes of kerosene consumption, there's an optimization of around 7 to 8%, which means 200 kilos of kerosene saved, 600 kg less CO2.
Your other option is building green infrastructure, which is underway. It may take a bit more time to be fully optimized.
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Sergio Colella6:17
Absolutely, an airport must be an intelligent building. These are extremely complex infrastructures, and airports must make the effort to reduce CO2 consumption through electrification, natural light usage, and new technologies that optimize costs. IATA has set the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. There's a lot of work ahead to achieve that.
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Interviewer6:49
Thank you very much, Sergio Colella, President of SITA for Europe, for joining Good Morning Business this morning.