Costa Cruises has partnered with SITA, the leading IT provider to the travel industry, to enhance the efficiency of its fly-cruise packages to Dubai and other homeports around the world.
The appointment of SITA is intended to mitigate costly trip disruptions by providing accurate real-time flight updates via a cloud-based application, enabling the cruise line’s operations team to link each flight to the associated vessel and relevant booking codes.
Costa Cruises offers Fly & Cruise packages encompassing both dedicated charter flights and scheduled flights to dozens of destinations around the world, primarily in Europe, the Mediterranean, South America, Asia and the Middle East.
Costa Toscana will homeport in Dubai for the 2023/24 cruise season, sailing roundtrip itineraries in the Arabian Gulf.
The flight updates provided by SITA Flight Monitoring Solution will empower Costa Cruises’ Operations Control Center (OCC) to handle the embarkation and disembarkation process for Fly & Cruise guests more efficiently, as well as improve planning for crew movements and allocations.
In the event of a canceled or delayed flight, this continuously refreshed set of data becomes crucial for promptly arranging guest transfers to the next port of call, minimizing associated costs, avoiding inefficiencies, and ensuring a smooth guest experience.
“The world of travel is becoming increasingly intermodal. Essential for the success of this model is guaranteeing smooth connections among the different modes of transport. This presents a significant challenge that we comprehend thoroughly, as we have traditionally acted as the unseen orchestrator for the air transport industry, ensuring collaboration among multiple stakeholders to ensure efficient operations.”
Sergio Colella, President for Europe at SITA
Similarly, disembarking guests at the right moment enables them to continue enjoying their time onboard the ship while allowing Costa Cruises to optimize airport transfers.
The application leverages SITA Flight Global APIs and offers direct integration with the airlines to benefit from real-time updates, even for charter flights.
“At Costa, it was imperative to find a supplier that could offer accurate and timely flight updates through a cloud-based solution featuring a user-friendly interface and direct integration with the charter airlines,” said Massimo Callegari, Director Guest & Corporate Travel Service Costa Cruises.
“Significant operational challenges are shared between cruise companies and airlines, and, with its strong footprint in the air transport industry, SITA clearly understands how they could help us enhance the management of our Fly & Cruise operations,” he added.
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