Etihad Airways signs $700 million deal with IBM

Enterprise IT vendor IBM has signed a $700 million deal with Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways for a range of security and technology, infrastructure services.

This agreement between IBM and Etihad includes customer data analytics and development of new technology that predicts weather patterns so the airlines’ flight can be better managed at its hub in Abu Dhabi.

Etihad hopes to improve its mobile offerings and operational efficieny for employees and guests.

Martin Jetter, senior vice president of IBM Global Technology Services, said “by this partnership, Etihad Airways is accelerating the move to new technologies such as cloud computing and cognitive”.

Etihad said last month that a few of the cash raised from institutional investors would go on investment in fleet for itself and the string of partner airlines in which it has acquired share stakes. Its partner airlines include Alitalia, airberlin, Jet Airways, Air Serbia and Air Seychelles. This approach will allow the airline to scale and manage its IT resources more efficiently, while ensuring business continuity. The council will focus on value creation for Etihad Airways and its guests, as well as bringing technological innovation and benefits to Abu Dhabi and its people.

Etihad is government owned and signed its deal with IBM after a series of other similar agreements with SAP SE, Panasonic Avionics and Sabre Holdings. Robert Webb, chief information & technology officer of Etihad, said the deal would provide the airline and its partners with a secure and resilient delivery platform.

Etihad will transition its existing data centre, applications and IT security operations to IBM, as well as around 100 IT staff. Disaster recovery will be managed out of an IBM data centre in Europe.