SITA a provider of air transport IT solutions has recently published a survey that highlights that above one third of airlines still fail to provide mobile services to business travellers and a mere fifth of airlines surveyed offer a mobile check-in service.

The 2009 Airline IT Trends Survey revealed that the reason for this lack of mobile services is due to thirty eight percent of airlines believing there is no business need as yet. Only fifteen percent have updated their website to include mobile services.

However there was a glimmer of hope as seventy eight per cent of airlines do have plans to update their websites so that they can be viewed on mobile phones by 2012.

SITA is working at moment with Malaysia Airlines developing a mobile web application which will provide check-in and other information to mobile phones.

The chief technology officer of SITA, Jim Peters commented that:

“The Airline IT Trends Survey shows that only 15 per cent of airlines have optimised their websites for mobile phones. Our approach in SITA Labs is to develop a common platform to maximise the use of mobile phones as a travel tool. Our prototype interface works via the mobile device’s web browser, and we ‘mobilise’ rather than simply miniaturise the airline website for the convenience of the passenger eliminating unnecessary content.”

Popularity: 7% [?]