Malaysia Airlines and Lufthansa Systems Cooperate for Managed Wide Area Network Services

July 12, 2012
The deal is part of the ongoing Malaysia Airlines’ Strategic IT Outsourcing (SITO) program to stabilize, rationalize and transform the IT operations delivery in the airline.

Kuala Lumpur/Kelsterbach, July 12, 2012 - Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and Lufthansa Systems announced today that the carrier will be using Lufthansa Systems’ managed WAN solution, SkyConnect, for secure and cost-efficient data exchange for MAS’ 80 international stations, including the crucial SITA PSS connectivity at Atlanta.

The deal is part of the ongoing Malaysia Airlines’ Strategic IT Outsourcing (SITO) program to stabilize, rationalize and transform the IT operations delivery in the airline. With SkyConnect, Malaysia Airlines will benefit from a state-of-the-art solution that combines the flexibility of regional networks with the ease of a single point of contact for the customer. SkyConnect will integrate Malaysia Airlines’ commercial applications such as reservations, check-in and aircraft handling and will be ready for new functionalities such as voice-over-IP telephony in the future. 

“We need reliability in our global data exchange for stable and profitable flight operations,” said Ms Faridah Abdul Rahman, CIO of Malaysia Airlines. “SkyConnect is a reliable, secure and cost-efficient system and will take our global communication into the 21st century.”

Combining high availability with exceptionally large data capacity, SkyConnect is a global multi-provider network which airlines and other international companies can use to transfer data quickly and securely. The multi-provider network is composed of the best available sub-networks of various regions and local providers.

Commenting on the cooperation, Faridah said, “We were seeking a strategic partner to enable Malaysia Airlines to achieve business objectives that offer an innovative value proposition, wherein Malaysia Airlines would get consistently improved services, at a reduced cost with greater transparency and higher flexibility.”

“Besides cutting-edge products, a global presence and close contacts to our customers are priorities of Lufthansa Systems. Over the last years we have established a solid cooperation with Malaysia Airlines. The decision in favor of SkyConnect is a sign of great trust. This again underlines our strong position in the Asia-Pacific market,” commented Olivier Krüger, SVP Regional Management Asia Pacific at Lufthansa Systems.

About Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines (www.malaysiaairlines.com) is the national carrier of Malaysia and one of Asia's largest, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide across 4 continents. The distinctive Malaysia Airlines brand is an extension of the special culture of warmth and friendliness unique to Malaysians. This inimitable Malaysian sense of graciousness is branded as "Malaysian Hospitality" and symbolized by the acronym MH which is also the airline's flight code. The national carrier of Malaysia has been recognized many times for its outstanding service, and its cabin crew has been voted the world’s best on numerous occasions. Malaysia Airlines’ Group IT vision is to become the Valued IT Partner. Group IT aims to provide IT leadership in business transformation, enable the business process transformation through innovation use of IT and business advisory, deliver effective and cost efficient IT services as well as always provide quick decision making and solutions.

About Lufthansa Systems

Lufthansa Systems provides consulting and IT services for selected industries and has a leading position in the global aviation industry. The wholly-owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group offers its customers the entire range of IT-services, including consulting, development and implementation of industry solutions as well as operations. At its headquarters in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt, Germany, the company operates one of the most modern data centers in Europe. Lufthansa Systems has offices in Germany and 16 other countries and employs about 3,000 people. In business year 2011, Lufthansa Systems recorded revenues of EUR 599 million. For more details, see www.LHsystems.com.