Aviation sector technology specialist SITA has reported rising revenues and profits in 2023 and forecast continued growth in 2024.

Announced its latest trading update at its Annual General Assembly, the firm revealed a 7% increase in revenue to $1.5 billion.

Chief executive David Lavorel said both margin and EBITDA (a measure if profitability) were 4% ahead of plans and signs so far this year indicated that trend has continued.

“Every one of our customers and members benefits from our strong performance and growth,” said Lavorel.

“It means we can self-fund our portfolio evolutions and explore further innovation opportunities.

“This is vital as we address the big trends now facing travel and take on new technologies to shape our industry’s future.

“Our portfolio developments and innovations are preparing the industry for the years ahead, delivering seamless and touchless journeys, operational efficiency, resilience and agility, sustainability, and more.”

SITA also reported record contracts and partnerships with airports and border control for digital identity technoogy, biometric and mobile-enabled self-service.

The firm has implemented biometric touchpoints for airline passengers at Frankfurt Airport, a digital travel and sustainability collaboration with the Arab Air Carriers Organisation, and continued trials in Aruba, using ICAO’s Digital Travel Credential (DTC) standard.

SITA’s agreement with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will see the latest passenger processing solutions and cloud-enablement for 44 airports in India, the firm said.

In a statement, SITA said: “With the return of travel comes the need to make operations efficient.

“The launch of new services in the year for the SITA Connect Go SD-WAN solution gives the industry the opportunity to achieve this goal, as a platform for industry digitalisation.”

Qatar Airways and Biman Bangladesh Airlines have been confirmed as early customers to use the solution to fuel growth.

SITA said it is seeing an other major trend with the use of collaborative IT for aircraft to make flights more efficient and sustainable, using AI and data-driven operational tools. In 2023 airlines including Azul, Singapore Airlines, AIX Connect, and Vistara adopted

SITA OptiFlight® to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by better planning fight paths.

“We’ve significantly over-achieved the first year goals of our business plan to grow SITA. As a result, we entered 2024 with a strong tailwind,” added Lavorel.

“With 75 successful years behind us, we’re looking to the future of travel. Our mission is to prepare our customers to deliver the ultimate travel and transport experience, with the most advanced, efficient, and sustainable technologies.”