Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Singapore-based SATS Ltd, is the winner of the 2018 IATA Ground Handling Conference (IGHC) Innovator Competition, for the company's use of smartwatches for Technical Ramp Operations. The award was presented on 25th April 2018 at the 31st IGHC in Doha, Qatar.

SATS's Smart Watch Resource Management Solution uses 4G data to streamline on-ground processes and enhance communication, productivity and safety. Furthermore, the smartwatch-enabled solution helps track and monitor performance closely. By capturing the start and completion time of each task, SATS can analyze the data to glean key performance insights to improve resource planning.

"The IGHC Innovator Competition showcases the creative thinking taking place across the ground handling industry. Among many worthy candidates, we congratulate SATS Ltd for an outstanding achievement. This is the kind of innovation that will solve real problems today and prepare us for future challenges," said Joseph Suidan, IATA Head of Ground Operations".

"We are delighted to be recognized for our innovative Smartwatch project. Smart technology has strong potential to help transform the ground handling industry through making real-time integrated operations possible. Full implementation for 130 employees has shown improvements in our ground handling, across 170 flights daily," said Kevin Chin, SATS, Vice President Gateway Services.

An independent jury which included experts from airlines, ground handling companies and OEMs evaluated projects based on their concept, and potential to create value. In addition to SATS Ltd, iboardings.com and Assaia were also shortlisted by the jury to present their projects at IGHC, where more than 700 delegates voted for their preferred innovation project.

The IATA Ground Handling Innovator Competition was launched in 2017 to encourage and promote innovation in the ground handling industry.

Watch the interview with the finalists:


For more information, please contact:
Corporate Communications
Tel: +41 22 770 2967
Email: corpcomms@iata.org

Notes for Editors:

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