Duty managers at Québec City John Lesage International Airport are now receiving operational alerts on their wrists. Skift blogger Marisa Garcia reports that the airport is the world’s first to use a wearable — in this case, the Apple Watch — to keep things running smoothly.
According to Marc-André Bédard, VP of Information Technology for Aéroport de Québec,
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“Wearable tech is one area of interest to us and with the Apple Watch and SITA’s Airport Management solution our duty managers will receive important notifications at just the right time to take action as needed.For example, they may get an alert to say that two planes are arriving simultaneously and have been assigned to the same gate or that there is a delay at a certain gate. Previously, they would have checked their tablets regularly for updates. With the watch, a vibration alerts them to an update so they receive vital information just by glancing at their wrist. They can then take immediate action.”
SITA Lab built the app for the airport, performing systems integration to link the Apple Watch to its other back-end products. It’s a unique use case for the Watch, and likely the first of many custom applications to be developed for the air transport industry.
