Afghan Winter Trials Convince Global Outsize

AFGHAN WINTER TRIALS CONVINCE GLOBAL OUTSIZE AIRLINE TO SIGN FOR SITA/UK MET OFFICE ADVANCED WEATHER SYSTEM Submitted by: Octopus Communications Tuesday, 13 March 2007

LONDON – 13 March 2007 – Following a successful trial with winter flights into Afghanistan, Polet Airlines, the Russian global outsize airline that specialises in super-heavy cargo, announced today the signing of a seven-year contract for SITA’s Advanced Weather System developed in partnership with the UK Met Office. Past recipient of a “Mission Impossible” award from the European Institute of Air Transport Management, Polet Airlines has adopted the Advanced Weather System because it strengthens the airlines’ competitive differentiator to ‘fly anywhere’. Anatoly Karpov, Polet Airlines CEO, said, “Our ‘fly anywhere’ policy can now be delivered to our customers with a greater level of predictability and confidence using the information provided by SITA and the UK Met Office. The improved agility this system provides will ensure more effective payload planning for cargo and that maximum take-off weights are optimised and costly diversions are avoided. This is a real deal winner for us and our customers.” During the trial period, Polet used the unique GraFTAF module of SITA’s Advanced Weather System to plan for flights into Kandahar in snow-swept southern Afghanistan where winter temperatures regularly drop below zero. This web-based application provides accurate views and predictions of critical weather conditions (visibility, temperature, pressure, wind and precipitation types) up to five days in advance, for anywhere around the world including non-airport locations if required. These weather factors have a direct impact on an aircrafts' take-off performance and can limit the aircrafts' maximum allowable take-off weight. With this knowledge, Polet, unlike other cargo providers, could commit to carrying the required freight within an agreed schedule. Subsequent weather conditions proved the 100% accuracy of all the forecasts. Polet Airlines has an outstanding reputation for flying outsize cargo into airports located in difficult terrain. Most recently it has won kudos for helping to fly a mock-up of the A380 around the world as part of an Airbus promotional campaign. Toby Tucker, SITA Director of Flight Operations, said, “Within a very short trial period, Polet Airlines saw the advantages this unique service could deliver to the business and quickly became SITA’s launch customer. We anticipate that many airlines will want to benefit from the competitive edge of an accurate five-day outlook for any airport or location that affects their operations.” Doug Johnson, Head of Transport at the Met Office agrees, “Extending prediction capabilities beyond current 24 hour weather forecasts allows airlines to take decisions earlier and improve turnaround times when weather has an impact”

Page 1 Around 250 aircraft operators rely on the SITA Flight Briefing Service to equip their pilots with cost-effective flight plans and weather briefings. More than 10,000 flight plans are produced each day, equating to around 3.5 million a year. SITA also provides in excess of 50 million weather and aeronautical briefing documents each year to support the economical and safe operation of its customer aircraft. -ENDS- For further information (not for publication) contact: Lorna Thompson / Joanna Masson Octopus Communications for SITA E: [email protected] T: 08453 700 655 Notes to Editors: About SITA SITA is the world's leading service provider of integrated IT business solutions and communication services for the air transport industry. SITA manages complex communication solutions for its air transport, government and GDS customers over the world's most extensive communication network, complemented by consultancy in the design, deployment and integration of communication services. Its broad range of airline and airport IT applications and services includes airport operations and integrated baggage services, common use and desktop services, flight operations and air-to-ground communications and end-to-end airline distribution and fares services. SITA has two main subsidiaries: OnAir, which is leading the race to bring in-flight mobile telephony to the market, and CHAMP Cargosystems, the world's only IT company solely dedicated to air cargo. SITA also operates two joint ventures providing services to the air transport community: Aviareto for aircraft asset management and CertiPath for secure electronic identity management. In addition, SITA sponsors .aero, the Internet top level domain reserved exclusively for aviation. SITA covers 220 countries and territories and the head office is in Geneva, Switzerland. SITA had aggregated revenues of US$ 1.554 billion in 2005 (€ 1.295 billion). Further information can be found at www.sita.aero About the UK Met Office A world leader in aviation meteorological services, the Met Office provides a comprehensive range of weather and environmental services for the aviation community, from recreational pilots through to airports and global airlines. It is one of only two world area forecast centers recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Founded in 1854 to provide information to the marine community, it has extended it’s reach to become a world renowned provider of high quality information

Page 2 and services to a range of different industries. Further information can be found at www.metoffice.gov.uk About Polet Airlines Since 1988, Polet Airlines has been building a reputation as a leading player in the outsize and super-heavy cargo market. Based in Russia, Polet has main offices in the US, Cyprus and Russia. Operating a wide fleet of aircraft including 8 giant An124-100 Ruslan aircraft, Polet has received awards for the Global Outsize Airline in 2000 and 2001, and a ‘mission impossible’ award from the European Institute of Air Transport Management in 2001 for the carriage of a US EP 3 reconnaissance (scout) aircraft from mainline China to the US. More recently, Polet has been transporting an element of the full sized mock-up of the A380 around the world to support the Airbus A380 promotional programme. Polet is permanently listed among top five Russian air companies ranked by air transportation volumes on domestic and international routes. The company is an active operator both in the Russian market of unique air shipments, and in large-volume projects for the United Nations and governments of Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, as well as on demand for world-renowned Western companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus, and the like. Further information on Polet Airlines can be found at: www.polet.ru/EN/index.shtml

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