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Colombo, September 15, 2005 - Aviation software specialist John Keells (IT Sector) and Air Arabia LLC, the highly acclaimed low-fares national carrier of U.A.E., announced a new IT joint venture.
The signatory to the joint venture agreement on behalf of John Keells Group was Head of the IT Sector, Mr. Sujiva Dewaraja. Mr. Adel Ali - CEO of Air Arabia LLC, signed on behalf of the airline.
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Picture shows Mr. Sujiva Dewaraja (Head of the IT Sector - John Keells Group) and Mr. Adel Ali (CEO - Air Arabia LLC) signing the agreement. Standing L-R: His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani, Mr. Ramesh Shanmuganathan (VP - John Keells), Mr. Donald Hubbard (Director of Finance - Air Arabia), Mr. Harish Kutty (Head of Revenue Optimization and Planning - Air Arabia), Mr. Ali Al-Hamdany (Head of Information Technology) and Mr. Dhananjaya Chandrasekera (VP - John Keells and CEO of John Keells Computer Services). |
Also present from Air Arabia were His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani, Mr. Ali Al-Hamdany - Head of Information Technology, Mr. Donald Hubbard - Director of Finance and Mr. Harish Kutty - Head of Revenue Optimization and Planning. Representing John Keells were Vice President Mr. Dhananjaya Chandrasekera, Vice President Mr. Ramesh Shanmuganathan and Head of Solutions Marketing of John Keells Computer Services Mr. Parthasarathi Dutt.
The new company, which has been named Information Systems Associates (ISA), will be headquartered in the Sharjah Airport International Free (SAIF) Zone with operations in Sharjah and Colombo.The agreement which was signed by the two parties at the SAIF-Zone, heralds the formation of a new Information Technology centre which will be fully equipped to serve all IT needs of Air Arabia as well as other industries in the region. The centre hopes to initially pursue new business opportunities in Middle East and Africa and later expand operations globally. John Keells will operate this facility on the company's tried and tested "global delivery model" in order to leverage on cost-effective offshore delivery and international time zone advantages. Air Arabia will provide the domain expertise to this operation. This technical and domain knowledge mix between the two companies, will provide the centre with the tools and capabilities it requires to operate at optimum efficiency.
Mr. Adel Ali, the CEO of Air Arabia said: "Air Arabia is the first low cost airline in the region. It's leading the way in low cost aviation regionally and in many aspects globally. Air Arabia's impressive achievements are looked upon highly by many other airlines worldwide, specially if we take in account the short time since the start of operations about eighteen months ago"
He went on to say: "We at Air Arabia understand the importance of information technology (IT) to maintain a competitive edge in a challenging industry such as aviation. In order to add to our in-house IT capabilities we have formed ISA a joint venture between Air Arabia and John Keells Holdings, which will provide IT solutions to Air Arabia and other clients"
"John Keells has a sound track record in serving full-service airlines in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. This joint venture will enable us to make our first foray into the lucrative low-cost airline market and also allow us to eventually serve other industries in the region", said Mr. Dewaraja after the signing. He went on to say: "Having pioneered the running of Offshore Development Centres (ODCs) in Sri Lanka for leading international airlines, John Keells is proud to partner such a high performing airline as Air Arabia"
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