Checking flight status updates using mobile phones is being gradually taken up by the passengers. And, this is going to pick fast in the coming years. A recent study has indicated that most of the airlines as well as airports are bracing to extend the mobile service by 2016 end. The study said that more than half of passengers traveling by air will be using their mobile phones to check the airport directions, baggage status and flight status.

The study “Smart Thinking” was conducted by SITA and released in Dublin recently at CAPA’s Airlines in Transition Summit. The study made public revealed that 90 percent of airports and 100 percent of airlines are currently making huge investments in business intelligence solutions for providing the passengers intelligent information access regarding their operations and other services.

SITA is a premier IT and communications provider to the aviation industry worldwide. A global research is regularly conducted by SITA on passengers, airlines and airports. The study is considered a unique opportunity to get a fascinating insight into the entire airline industry, assess potential for growth, and identify alignment as well as misalignment.
 
The recent study is based on a global research and appropriately incorporated additional inputs by various airports worldwide and leading airlines. These included London Heathrow, London City Airport, Dublin Airport Authority, Saudi Arabian Airlines and British Airways.

The study indicated that flight status updates have already become a mainstream mobile service and will be further extending its reach within two years. The study disclosed that 79 percent of airports across the world will start providing status notifications such as walking time to gate and queues times through security. Nearly 61 percent of the airlines will begin providing baggage status updates. More than three quarters of the airports will start offering navigation assistance for way-finding through mobile apps.

The study made public by SITA aptly demonstrates and dwell at length on how the focus today is to build and solidify the base for business intelligence. The efforts are also to look ahead to use the combination of predictive analysis and business intelligence to vastly improve the ground experience of the passengers, while making optimum use of the space and infrastructure at the airports.

The study pointed out the utter helplessness of the airports and airlines in tackling untoward events such as bad weather conditions in the past. The report said that during such emergency situations the airlines and airports were left with no choice but to fine-tune the disrupted flight schedules. The use of business intelligence therefore becomes critical in the present times. The study concluded that by using the business intelligence to their advantage there will be more scope for preventive action before situations like bad weather are actually predicted. The business intelligence will play a more proactive role by successfully analyzing the past events and combining it with live data feeds from various sources and assist in predicting the future events. With the business intelligence the airline industry and passengers stand to gain immensely as the transformation from reactive to proactive and onwards to preventive will be complete.