UK business class airlineSilverjetplans to be the first to
introduce wireless technology in 2008 to streamline its flight
boarding processes.
The airline plans to roll out 3M RT Mobile devices early next
year and introduce them to capture passenger passport details and
transmit the encrypted data wirelessly to its departure systems
using
GPRS.
"This will enable a more personalised service either in the
lounge or in the car before even arrival at the airport for those
passengers using the chauffeur service," said George Henderson, IT
director at Silverjet.
Bigger airlines already offer online check in and even home
printing of boarding passes, but passengers still need to check in
their bags and queue to identify themselves and have their
passports scanned, said Henderson.
"With the seat-side or in-car service, passengers will not have
to wait or queue at all before boarding their flights," he
said.
The service will be the latest in a series of technological
innovations the startup airline has used since it began operations
in January this year to challenge established brands.
Henderson said these include the airline's contact management
system, which is the first in the industry to combine voice, fax,
efax, e-mail and text messaging for logging and sending
messages.
He said other forms of technology innovation the airline was
considering included personal
RFID tags, a mobile text flight status confirmation service,
and automated customer satisfaction using e-mail analysis.
Silverjet operates twice daily flights between London and New
York and is to introduce daily flights between London and Dubai
this month.