The Annual General Assembly of SITA, which includes most of the world's leading airlines, voted last week to consolidate the organization's two companies into a single SITA organization under one management team.

SITA SC, a non-profit provider of network communications, and SITA INC (Information Networking Computing), a commercial provider of IT solutions, will join to create the world's largest communications and IT solutions company focussed exclusively on the air transport industry. Francesco Violante will become CEO of the new entity July 1.

SITA is a communications provider to airlines and also has operated a cargo community system for messaging between airlines and forwarders.

"Following today's Board decision, we will create a very powerful platform for future growth and continued success. This combination of the communications and IT solutions businesses is SITA's unique strength in the air transport industry," said Paul Coby, Chairman of the Boards of SITA SC and the SITA Group Foundation.