Malaysia Airlines appear to be embracing emerging technology with their two latest innovations - becoming the world’s first flight operators to sell flight tickets via Apple iPad kiosks and by offering a seperate mobile augmented reality app.
In conjunction with air transport IT specialist, SITA, the domestic-based kiosks were launched Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, with the iPhone augmented reality (AR) application, MHdeals, soon to follow.
The iPad MHkiosks seek to alleviate queue management issues at the airline’s ticket offices, where customers can now be re-directed to stand-alone on-site kiosks during peak hours. In another Malaysia Airlines first, the flight operators announced tentative details of their forthcoming AR app (pictured below), an area of tech we covered recently on JOE.
Malaysia Airlines CEO, Tengku Dato’ Azmil Zahruddin has said there is “huge interest” in their designated kiosks for Apple’s latest world-beater, stating: “It is as simple as ABC. You select your itinerary, pay with a credit card, and receive confirmation via SMS and email. There is no printing and no admin fee.”
Malaysia Airlines augmented reality app in action.
Jim Peters, SITA Chief Technology Officer, who has worked in all the recent SITA/Malaysia collaborations couldn’t be any more excited at the prospect, stating that “SITA regards these two innovations as very significant breakthroughs in the airline industry. It’s also a fun and interactive way to choose your destination, book a ticket, and then fly.
The AR app, MHdeals, utilises both the users’ iPhone camera and GPS to determine their location and display the nearest airports from which the user can access current Malaysia Airlines deals. When passengers find a deal they like, they can click “book now” and are redirected to the airline’s dedicated iPhone app (launched last year), to order the flight.
No comments:
Post a Comment