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Jet Air schedules on mobile phones

Our Bureau

MUMBAI, July 3

JET Airways has announced a multi-pronged tie-up, whereby its latest flight schedule can be accessed through mobile phones.

The service, called `Jetmobile', also incorporates an option for the customer to set a trigger that prompts an incoming alert from the service provider, should there be a flight delay of over 30 minutes.

Jet Airways has tied up with cellular service providers Orange in Mumbai and Sterling Cellular in Delhi to offer the service. The service is designed, developed and operated by iSolv Pvt Ltd through WebOnMobile.com, its portal dedicated to such services using mobile phone-access.

``The service will be rolled out across the country in three to four months' time,'' Mr. Gaurang Shetty, General Manager (Marketing), Jet Airways, said at a press briefing on Monday. It is understood that by then the airline will need to have agreements in place with other cellular operators as well.

The current understanding is such that iSolve will service only Jet Airways in the domestic sector, while remaining free to tie up with several cellular operators for the purpose. Orange has right to tie up with other airlines.

The new service can inform on flight schedule list between any two Indian cities linked by Jet Airways, provide the status of any particular flight and set up a customer-driven alert for a flight he has already booked into.

``Flight information over a wider spectrum should be available over the mobile phone in due course,'' Mr. Rajiv Sawhney, Senior Vice-President (Sales & Marketing), Hutchison Max Telecom Ltd, said.

Mr. Milind Agnihotri, Managing Director & CEO, iSolv, said that WebOnMobile.com is in talks to service other airlines for the international sector. The portal, which sees banking, stocks and airline-related activity as its main business, will be shortly announcing an arrangement with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) whereby stock prices and other data concerning the bourses can be accessed through mobile phones.

There too, a trigger for alerting the user on the same lines as featured in `Jetmobile', would be available, except that it would be informing the customer of his chosen stock reaching a particular price, Mr. Agnihotri said.