How Airlines Want to Change Your Flight Experience With Apps

As the quality and accessibility of air travel has improved over the years, so too has been the rise and impact of technology both in-flight as well as on the ground. Today, people can walk in to the airports with the tickets flashing on a cellphone or a tablet and use that to check-in. Indigo Airlines took its first step by bringing a mobile site live over a year ago, but it launched its first app for Apple's App Store, Windows Phone and Google Play only this January. Using the app, you can book your ticket, check the status of flights, get the PNR for your journey, and the airline is also giving some exclusive deals for people using the mobile app. airline_app_story_indigo.jpg "We took the decision to launch the mobile app somewhere in September last year and it went live in January," says Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, Indigo Airlines. "Over the [last] six months bookings [through the app] have increased from 50-70 per day [in January] to over 800 per day now. It goes to show how important it is to tap into the mobile app segment." However, even counting only the daily flights, Indigo has over 500 flights with a capacity of 180 passengers every day so this still represents a tiny portion of the people traveling by the airline. In order to encourage customers to use the app, Indigo is also giving a flat Rs. 200 discount on all tickets booked using the app. According to Kumar, the mobile apps combined across platforms have been downloaded over five lakh times, and iPhone and iPad owners make up the majority of users, followed by Android and then Windows Phone. Jet and Spicejet have similar apps available, with similar features. Spicejet has an app only for Windows Phone, while Jet Airways is available on the App Store, Google Play, the Windows Phone Store, BlackBerry World and includes live updates, notifications for deals and discounts, special offers and bookings. The Spicejet app also gives you these features, and includes travelogues with entries for all destinations where the airline flies.