Aviation IT firm plans 80 jobs

Aviation technology company SITA  today said it plans to double its workforce with the creation of 80 new jobs in Co Donegal.

The company currently employs 73 staff at its Letterkenny plant, and the new jobs are to come on stream over the next 12 months.

Elsewhere, Clare Spring Water, based at Lisseycasey, Co Clare, has announced it is to create some 90 jobs.

Welcoming the Co Donegal development, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan said it followed the expansion of operations and a move into new premises to meet the growth in demand for its products and services.

Speaking in Letterkenny, where she opened the new building, Ms Coughlan said the additional jobs were "fulfilment of SITA’s project as announced in 2005" and supported by IDA Ireland.

"The expansion into the new facility, the growth of operations and the commencement of further recruitment is excellent news as it further embeds the facility in Letterkenny and offers additional high value employment to the people of the area.

"It is also a further significant endorsement of Letterkenny and the whole North-West as a location where international investments can develop and thrive and it demonstrates SITA’s confidence in the area’s ability to support its knowledge-intensive and highly-skilled activities,” Ms Coughlan said.

SITA chief executive Francesco Violante said the development team in Letterkenny has "consistently delivered work of a very high standard".

"The high performance of our Irish staff and the support and cooperation of the IDA have convinced us to expand our Letterkenny facility and to bring other IT development work to the site that might have been done elsewhere."

SITA is the world's leading specialist in air transport communications and IT solutions. The company's operation in Letterkenny was set up following its acquisition in 2003 of Eland Technologies, an Irish software company.

SITA is owned by the air transport industry and its partners, which include airlines, airports and air transport organisations throughout the world. Its services and solutions are provided for every stage of a journey, from reservation web bookings through to in-flight communications.