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The story
SITA or Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, was founded in February 1949 by eleven airlines in order to bring about shared infrastructure cost efficiency by combining their communications networks. The eleven original airlines were: British European Airways Corporation (BEAC), British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), British South American Airways (BSAA), KLM, Sabena, Swissair, TWA, Swedish A.G.Aerotransport, Danish Air Lines, Norwegian Air Lines and Air France.
World-wide computer network
SITA opened its first telecommunications centre in Rome in 1949. Information was manually transmitted using perforated tape and teleprinters. This was the 'first generation' of the network. The 'second generation' SITA High-Level Network (HLN) became operational in 1969, handling data traffic in real time via a message-switched network over common carrier leased lines. It was organised to act like a packet-switching network. The 'third generation' Data Transport Network adopted X.25 in 1981, providing global coverage and becoming the world's "largest" public data network.
Expansion
In 1989 computer reservations systems, aerospace manufacturers, tour operators, airfreight forwarders, airport authorities, and other organizations in the air transport industry began joining SITA as members. The company today provides infrastructure and communication services for the air transport industry, having evolved from its early days of providing only network-related services.
SITA presently operates in over two hundred countries and territories, and its customers include airlines, airports, airfreight — international freight forwarders, travel and distribution — global distribution systems, governments, aerospace, ground handlers and air traffic control.
From 2011 to 2015, SITA provided services to Mahan Air, Caspian Airlines, Meraj Airlines and Syrian Arab Airlines, companies designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the United States Department of the Treasury. In February 2020, SITA agreed to pay US$ 7.8 million to the US Treasury as settlement and announced further enhancements to their compliance program.
From Wikipedia’s article on SITA (business services company), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4