IBM has announced that Lufthansa Group, the largest German airline, is introducing a new mobile offering for employees, powered by MobileFirst for iOS to transform the airline’s ground operations and boost customer service.
With Manage Gates for iPhone, flight managers are equipped with up-to-date critical information to help ensure safe and on-time travel for Lufthansa passengers, says Mirco Bharpalania, director, Ground Operations IT, Lufthansa.
Traditionally, Lufthansa flight managers had to login to multiple systems numerous times a day to access information about flight assignments. Using Manage Gates, Lufthansa supervisors will now have access to relevant, real-time information at their fingertips, making them independent from a stationary workplace to interact and connect with passengers. Flight managers can react more promptly to specific challenging situations such as current booking and boarding status, baggage status, inbound flights, aircraft and crew rotation, says Bharpalania.
Manage Gates is a digital business assistant designed specifically for flight managers, providing immediate access to all essential data of the airline’s assigned flights. This means flight managers can better plan and monitor for flight changes and boarding processes so they can react quickly to changes and other incidents, creating a smoother flying experience for customers, Bharpalania adds. Lufthansa began rolling out Manage Gates in February 2017 with full deployment to 290 Flight Managers to be completed by June 2017.
“Empowered, connected, mobile customers are demanding seamless experiences with timely information, services, choice and control over their travel in real-time,” said Dee Waddell, global managing director, IBM Travel & Transportation. “Lufthansa’s Premium Airlines will now be better equipped to manage the complex volumes of data that is generated globally by flights to offer more customized offerings.”
In July 2014 Apple and IBM announced an exclusive partnership (MobileFirst for iOS) designed to transform enterprise mobility through a new class of business apps — bringing IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to the iPhone and iPad. IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions will be built in an exclusive collaboration: IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities, with the power of more than 100,000 IBM industry and domain consultants and software developers behind it, fused with Apple’s consumer experience, hardware and software integration and developer platform.
