Mobile technology in airline industry is a transformative force. Today it is rapidly becoming essential to airline operations and customer experience. A joint study conducted in 2012, found that the use of mobile aviation applications has increased considerably over the past two years. The same study also forecasts that 90% of airlines will open their sales channel on mobile platform by 2015 which means a growth of 51% from 2012.
For transforming the future of airline industry, mobile technology is no longer an option but an acute business requirement to maximize the productivity and lead the competition. However, organizations need to analyze their business and decide to expand existing resources or build new technology infrastructure by making capital investments. They need to keep a balance between present risk and future demands. Organizations that delay adopting the expected increase of enterprise mobility may find themselves constrained by legacy systems. Mobile technology will create dynamic improvements in operations and transform the overall customer experience.
Revenue Growth
Though mobile is not yet the most significant sales channel in percentage terms but it accounted approximately $ 2.6 billion in annual ticket sales in 2011 worldwide. One of the recently launched airline mobile applications reported around 400,000 downloads of the app in just one month after the launch and $ 1.6 million in flight bookings generating huge revenue of $ 160 million through its mobile channel in a year for the airline.
Improving connectivity
The emergence of internet and easy availability of smartphones have improved the connectivity between the airlines and the customers. Mobile technology has made it convenient for the customer to do bookings anytime from anywhere on their phones. They can do the following
* Checking fares
* Looking for products and services available on any specific flight
* Booking a flight
* Checking in and choosing or changing seats
* Viewing passenger itinerary, requesting a meal, and booking ground transportation
* Checking flight status and also viewing global timetables
Mobile apps have made both customers and the airlines reachable to each other.
Passenger Centric
In the passenger-centric age, mobile technology helps customers anywhere, anytime making it convenient for them to reach the airlines and suppliers. With the use of such technology airlines can offer an enhanced customer service experience adding to their own revenue sales. The smartphone has shifted the attention from ecommerce to m-commerce. The travelers can receive status information, promotions etc. on their smartphones. With the help of advanced mobile technology passengers can have experience the benefits such as seat pitch, and club room access etc. and airlines can target specific customers with amenities, power traveler loyalty and help differentiate the airline from the competition.
Airline Operations
Airline operations that can benefit from mobile technology include-
Flight Operations: Smartphones provide pilots with tractability to manage a number of tasks such as map charting, manual reviewing, capturing the information from logbooks etc. This feature provides a complete overview of the business in real time
Crew Management: Smartphones provide the cabin crew with systems that provide them with ready access to complete passenger information, requirements and preferences. This results in improved customer service and creates good brand value resulting in better improved productivity and increased revenue.
Smartphone technology also benefits the airlines with its other features such as agility, user experience management, content management etc. we can conclude by saying it is a return on the investment for airlines to invest in the mobile technology.
