SITA has agreed to acquire Flightscape, CAE Inc.’s airline operations software business, whose solutions help airlines plan flights, manage crews, control operations, coordinate ground activities and deliver in-flight services, the company said. The acquisition is intended to help airlines make better operational decisions and coordinate recovery more effectively across the aviation ecosystem, at a time when more than 10 billion people are expected to fly each year by 2050 and disruption continues to affect daily operations.

“Airlines need to make the best possible use of their aircraft, crews and infrastructure while responding to increasingly complex operational challenges,” said David Lavorel, Chief Executive Officer, SITA. “With Flightscape, we will bring together our respective complementary capabilities to strengthen what we offer airlines and connect their operational decisions with insight from across the aviation ecosystem. That will help our customers anticipate disruption, recover more effectively and run more resilient operations.”

Flightscape’s software is used daily by more than 90 airlines to plan, manage and operate flights across their networks. “The hardest decisions in an operations control center come when plans change and every minute counts,” said Yann Cabaret, CEO of SITA for Aircraft. “Technology and AI can now help airlines and their partners see more of what is happening and respond together. With Flightscape, our aim is to give an airline’s operations team and its partners across the industry the same information when plans change, so they can recover as one operation rather than as separate parts.”

SITA said much of the information airlines need for operational decisions currently sits outside the systems where those decisions are made; Flightscape will add that operational core, complementing SITA’s existing products, with work to connect the two beginning only after the transaction completes. The deal continues SITA’s investment in operations technology following its 2021 acquisition of Safety Line, which helps airlines fly more fuel-efficiently, and its acquisition earlier this year of Big Blue Analytics, whose AI helps build recovery plans in minutes.

“I believe SITA is a natural home for Flightscape and an excellent strategic fit for the business,” said Carter Copeland, President, Flightscape. “This transaction positions Flightscape within an organization deeply connected to the global air transport industry. I am excited about what this combination will mean for Flightscape, its customers and its future.”

SITA said Flightscape customers will keep the service and support they rely on today, with solutions staying modular and open so airlines can connect them to the systems they already run. The acquisition is expected to close over the course of the first half of 2027, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals; Rothschild & Co. is serving as sole financial advisor and Borden Ladner Gervais as legal advisor to SITA on the transaction.