BAA signs £100m outsourcing deal with Capgemini

Airport operator BAA has released details of a five-year, £100m outsourcing deal with Capgemini to run the company's IT services.

Capgemini will support everything from plane landings to security queues.

It is part of CIO Philip Langsdale's £400m IT investment programme to improve the efficiency of Heathrow's complex real-time business environment.

He hopes that improved IT services will enable passengers and airlines to be better informed about the status of the airport. They should also see improved punctuality, as well as more accurate information on flights and baggage.

"Our airlines need better, more timely information and improved service quality. We will have spent over £400m on IT in the five-year period ending in 2013 as part of a much wider capital spending programme designed to modernise every aspect of Heathrow," said Langsdale.

"I recognise technology on its own cannot deliver these improvements, but it is a crucial enabler," he added.

He indicated that Capgemini will play an important part in ensuring the success of the programme.

"Because our focus is on running airports, it makes sense for costly specialist IT functions to be outsourced and our buying power means that it is much more cost effective," said Langsdale.

"We want to improve our resilience and ensure that we have the right systems in place to share the right information at the right time. Capgemini will be key to supporting this."

BAA's other airports – Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen – will also be supported with technology that will soon begin to operate with independent airport systems, improving their cost and efficiency.

It is hoped that by doing this, the technology will reflect their individual needs.