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Airlines Sign Five-Year Renewal with Unisys for Australian Baggage Reconciliation System

Dépèche transmise le 21 juin 2009 par Business Wire

Airlines Sign Five-Year Renewal with Unisys for Australian Baggage Reconciliation System

SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--International airlines operating to and from Australia have signed a five-year contract renewal worth more than AU$25 million (US$20 million) with Unisys Australia to continue to provide a baggage reconciliation system for 44 international airlines operating from the eight Australian international airports at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and the Gold Coast.

The Board of Airline Representatives Australia (BARA), an industry representative organization for airlines, manages the engagement with Unisys on behalf of the airlines. Unisys has worked with BARA since 2004 to provide the baggage reconciliation system that links passengers with their bags, tracking both as they move through the system.

Each year airlines must secure and validate up to 20,000,000 bags for approximately 10,000,000 air travelers on international flights to or from Australia.

The baggage reconciliation system helps airlines comply with the Aviation Security Act's "Triple A" (account and authorize) regulations relating to baggage handling, which are mandated by the Commonwealth Government’s Office of Transport Security.

“The Unisys baggage reconciliation system assists our member airlines to collectively meet compulsory security requirements for baggage handling. What’s more, it does so via an efficient, standardized process to prevent delays to passenger processing or tight flight schedules – two things that we know are essential for air-travel customer satisfaction,” said Mr. Warren Bennett, executive director, Board of Airline Representatives Australia.

When passengers check in, each bag receives a barcode, which is then scanned and reconciled with a passenger record before it can be loaded onto the aircraft. As the airline has a record of the baggage loading order, bags can be quickly identified and recovered if passengers fail to board. This process prevents take-off with a mismatch of passengers, crew and baggage.

“Today’s aviation sector must contend with a heightened security environment and regulatory obligations while seeking cost efficiencies in the current economic climate,” said Sue Carter, vice president, Commercial Industries, Unisys Asia Pacific. “While increased security measures help build public confidence in air carriers, to retain customer satisfaction in the competitive market, it’s essential that airlines avoid lengthy processing or flight delays when baggage needs to be found and removed from flights. The Unisys baggage reconciliation system helps the airlines achieve these goals.”

Unisys experts manage the network infrastructure and security architecture, and provide round-the-clock help desk support.

About Unisys

Unisys is a worldwide information technology company. We provide a portfolio of IT services, software, and technology that solves critical problems for clients. We specialize in helping clients secure their operations, increase the efficiency and utilization of their data centers, enhance support to their end users and constituents, and modernize their enterprise applications. To provide these services and solutions, we bring together offerings and capabilities in outsourcing services, systems integration and consulting services, infrastructure services, maintenance services, and high-end server technology. With more than 27,000 employees, Unisys serves commercial organizations and government agencies throughout the world. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements rely on assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. In particular, statements in this release regarding the anticipated value of the contract are based upon assumptions regarding the performance of the contract continuing for its full term. As the agreement is terminable by the airlines in the later years of the agreement if changes in Australian law allow the airlines to discontinue use of the service, the estimated value of the engagement is not guaranteed. Additional discussion of factors that could affect Unisys future results is contained in periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

RELEASE NO.: 0621/8995
http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/news_a_events/06218995.htm

Unisys is a registered trademark of Unisys Corporation. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.