Iberia launches new auto-check-in software to reduce check-in time to less than 30 seconds

A new, simple, intuitive application streamlines check-in of passengers and luggage. Unveiled today in airline’s T4 hub in Madrid-Barajas airport, it will be gradually installed in other airports. Iberia’s aim is to increase the proportion of auto-check-in from 60% to 90% of total passengers. The innovation is a part of the Ágora project to ease… Read the full press release

Travelport signs new agreement with China Southern Airlines

Hong Kong, 2012-08-01 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has today announced a new multi-year global content agreement with China Southern Airlines. Effective immediately, the new agreement ensures Galileo and Worldspan travel agency customers worldwide will continue to have full access to the airline’s fares and inventories. China Southern Airlines operates… Read the full press release

Cozmo Travels becomes first Middle East travel agency to sign up for Travelport Universal Desktop™

Dubai, United Arab Emirates,  2012-07-30 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has today announced a new agreement with Cozmo Travels, a leading travel management company in the Middle East, which has seen comprehensive testing of Travelport’s ground-breaking Universal Desktop begin at the agency this month. With operations across… Read the full press release

Amadeus launches industry-first open source framework to further innovation

• New technology strategy marks the first time a GDS has opened its library of code to third party developers • Software initiative eases the development of rich and large scale enterprise web applications, addressing the challenges of mobile web development • ARIA™ Templates code already underpins Amadeus’ User Interface (UI) development Madrid, Spain, 2012-07-26 —… Read the full press release

Bulgaria Air Signs Full Content Agreement with Travelport

Agreement secures access to all fares and classes Langley, UK, 2012-07-26 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has today announced a continuation to its global content agreement with Bulgaria Air.  The agreement sees Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan connected travel agency customers across the globe continue to have full access to… Read the full press release

Iberia launches “IBHelp”, revolutionising customer service via mobile devices

Original and innovative new in-house technology connects more than 100 iPads and PDAs to check-in kiosks, the new Quick Service Points and other devices that can issue the documents customers may need IBHelp enables Iberia staff to deal with any incident or customer request at any point from check-in to boarding, making connections, retrieving luggage,… Read the full press release

Travelport announces mobile GDS application

Travelport Mobile Agent Developed by a Travelport Developer Network member Langley, UK, 2012-07-25 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has today announced the launch of Travelport Mobile Agent through its Developer Network. The mobile app, which enables Travelport-connected agencies to gain full access to the Galileo platform directly on… Read the full press release

Gliding through the air even more efficiently with Sharklets

airberlin is one of the first airlines in the world to equip its new Airbus A320/A321 fleet with fuel-saving Sharklet technology 2012-07-24 — /travelprnews.com/ — The airberlin group is having new fuel-saving wing tip devices fitted on all 14 of the Airbus A320/A321 aircraft which are still on order with the manufacturer. These devices, known as… Read the full press release

Travelport delivers mobile app for Italian youth travel service CTS

2012-07-24 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has today announced the development of a mobile app for CTS Viaggi, the Italian member of the WYSET (World Youth Student and Educational Travel) Confederation. The app, called CTS Mobile, is available for users of Apple and Android products and is available… Read the full press release

EUROCONTROL issues its ATM Cost-Effectiveness Report for 2010

Brussels, Belgium, 2012-07-23 — /travelprnews.com/ — The ACE 2010 Benchmarking Report – ACE stands for ATM Cost-Effectiveness – commissioned by the Performance Review Commission (PRC) is available now on EUROCONTROL’s website. This report, the tenth in a series launched in 2001, reviews the cost-effectiveness of Europe’s air traffic management (ATM) system, comparing the performance of 37 air navigation… Read the full press release

iPhone App Featuring Midway Terminal Maps for Travelers Now Available

CHICAGO, 2012-07-23 — /travelprnews.com/ — The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) has again partnered with i-formula.com to develop an Apple iPhone version of the terminal maps at  Midway International Airport. The app is available now for free through iTunes . Visit the iTunes App Store and enter “airport-maps” in the search field to locate and download the app. The app allows passengers to virtually navigate… Read the full press release

Solar panels installed at Schiphol

Exploring the possibilities of generating green energy with solar panels 2012-07-23 — /travelprnews.com/ — Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and technical services provider Imtech have installed a total of 9,500 m2 of solar panels at Schiphol-Northwest. The solar panels have been installed as part of a trial to determine whether the generation of large-scale cost-effective solar energy has… Read the full press release

TIX.nl signs long-term agreement with Travelport

Top three online travel agent switches to Travelport Langley, UK, 2012-07-23 — /travelprnews.com/ —  Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry and TIX, a leading online travel agent (OTA) in The Netherlands, have today announced a new multi-year international travel content and technology agreement. TIX is a relatively new OTA, operating since June 2010,… Read the full press release

WWW.AIRFRANCE.COM RECEIVES A MAKEOVER FOR CUSTOMERS’ BENEFIT

The newly-redesigned www.airfrance.com local websites offer a new graphic interface featuring inspirational visuals on the homepage. For enhanced legibility, the functional aspect of the website has been optimized to facilitate access to the main tools (reservation, check-in, flight times, etc.) and rich, dynamic content. A section is dedicated to Air France activity on the social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,… Read the full press release

EASYJET AND SR TECHNICS CELEBRATE COMPLETION OF 50TH HEAVY MAINTENANCE CHECK OUT OF MALTA FACILITY

2012-07-21 — /travelprnews.com/ — SR Technics has today redelivered the 50th heavy maintenance on an Airbus A319 aircraft for easyJet out of its Malta facility. The aircraft will depart Malta Luqa Airport today for London Gatwick Airport. In addition to the heavy maintenance checks, the Malta team has also completed eight end-of-lease (EOL) checks for the… Read the full press release

EASYJET LAUNCHES MOBILE OPTIMISED WEBSITE

2012-07-21 — /travelprnews.com/ — easyJet has this week launched its first mobile optimized website across Europe. Accessed through http://m.easyjet.com the new mobile site gives customers the ability to search & book flights, check flight information on the go, manage flight bookings and access FAQs through Blackberry, Windows 7, iPhone and Android devices. Supporting six languages, English, French, German,… Read the full press release

EASYJET TEAMS UP WITH AIRBUS AND NICARNICA AVIATION FOR HIGH ALTITUDE TESTING OF AVOID VOLCANIC ASH DETECTION TECHNOLOGY

Airbus A340 test aircraft may help keep UK airspace open if a volcano erupts during the London Olympics 2012-07-21 — /travelprnews.com/ — easyJet and Nicarnica Aviation have entered a partnership with Airbus to test the AVOID (Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector) ash detection equipment on their A340-300 test aircraft at the speed and altitude of commercial… Read the full press release

Lonely Planet Offers Free Ebooks and Apps about London in Celebration of the Olympics

2012-07-20 — /travelprnews.com/ — As families across America watch the Olympic Games on television this summer, many will be curious to know more about the host city, London. Thus, in celebration of the Olympics, we’ve made a host of our London ebooks and apps free for a limited time. ·Not For Parents London is a highly graphic… Read the full press release

SIA And SilkAir Upgrading Reservations System On 8 July

2012-07-19 — /travelprnews.com/ — Singapore Airlines and SilkAir will be undergoing a transition to a new reservations system on 8 July 2012. During the transition, all SIA and SilkAir flights are due to operate as scheduled. However, booking, reservation and ticketing services through singaporeair.com,silkair.com, call centres, service centres and travel agents, as well as KrisFlyer-related transactions and online/mobile functions… Read the full press release

airberlin selects GEnx engines to power its Boeing 787 Dreamliners

2012-07-19 — /travelprnews.com/ — Germany’s second largest airline airberlin has selected the GEnx-1B engine to power its fleet of 15 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners for which orders are confirmed. The airline has also signed a 12-year OnPointSM solution agreement to cover the maintenance, repair and overhaul of its’ GEnx engines. The GEnx-1B engines selection and OnPoint solution… Read the full press release

App, App and away to Berlin: win a journey for you and five friends

2012-07-19 — /travelprnews.com/ — airberlin and visitBerlin are launching a big competition on the new Facebook App “Experience Berlin”. From today, all Berlin fans have the chance to win a trip to Berlin with five friends from their global Facebook network. “With its 1.4 million fans, Berlin has the third largest City Page in the world on Facebook,”… Read the full press release

MOKULELE AIRLINES RECEIVES APPROVAL FOR USE OF I-PADS

Mokulele Airlines has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for the use of iPads (Electronic Flight Bags) replacing paper on the flight deck.  The use of i-Pads replaces logbooks, manuals, charts and also displays satellite weather.  The 1.5 pound iPad replaces about 15 pounds of paper on each of Mokulele’s Caravans saving an estimated 1,400… Read the full press release

Industry update: Canada’s tourism industry maintains social-media momentum.

2012-07-19 — /travelprnews.com/ — Facebook’s stock price might have taken a dip after its controversial stock-market flotation, but its popularity continues among the Canadian travel industry. Naturally, it features in the next edition of the Canadian Tourism Commission(CTC)’s bird’s-eye view of the action in cyberspace. This series highlights the hard graft of CTC’s partners and friends from across… Read the full press release

Kuoni Launches New iPad App

2012-07-18 — /travelprnews.com/ — Kuoni has announced the launch of a new iPad app which allows users to enjoy fast and easy access to Kuoni’s range of brochures, videos, travel article feed and website with Kuoni’s new app. The free app is available to download now from Apple’s App Store. The app is automatically kept up… Read the full press release

Travelport and Air Canada Unveil Enhanced Version of Travelport Agencia™

Travel Agency Desktop Tool Enables Canadian Agents to Book All Air Canada Fare Families and Optional Services – Travelport Remains Only GDS with Full Air Canada Content and Capability to Fully Support Air Canada’s Merchandizing Functionality — Toronto, 2012-07-18 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, operating the Apollo, Galileo… Read the full press release