BA's iPhone app could be rolled out to other devices

A program for the Apple iPhone developed by British Airways to allow people to check flight departures and arrivals, could be rolled out to other mobile devices.

"In principle we could roll it out to other phones. There's nothing formal yet but I suspect there's going to be a lot of interest. I expect a lot of people will follow us but it was important to be the first," said Paul Coby, CIO of British Airways.

"The arrivals and departures schedule is one piece of information that we have made available and we are looking at what the possibilities are," he said.

IT staff at the airline developed the application using the Apple developer's kit.

Coby said staff took the arrivals and departures fragment of the website and re-purposed it for the iPhone. The 3G architecture on the phone interrogates the airline's operational databases, and provides the phone with the information.

Coby said BA had chosen the iPhone because of its image, "We all know from what's happening around us that it's probably the coolest thing you can buy at the moment in technology. We think it fits very well with our brand. We want to be innovators in the air and online as well."