In addition to on board application which only requires a web browser, several mobile applications for the passengers and the crew members have been developed in the context of aeronautical passenger services.

While these applications requires installation on the passenger laptop or PDA, these can take full advantage of passenger terminal capabilities, in terms of local storage and additional harware. For example, using the iPhone accelerometer, the flightPhases application can automatically detect the current status and set up the iPhone accordingly.

                 

Many applications have been developed for the iPhone, as can be seen below. These are client server applications which require the JetPortal onboard functionality. These applications are not yet available at the App Store. The popularity of the iPhone and the richness of its HW/SW make it an ideal device for applications. The PlaneBill philosophy is and will always be to offer client side applications for free.

  

 

PlaneSMS is an application which allows the passenger to send an SMS with the phone in AirPlane Mode, thus giving the possibility to use the contact numbers. The SMS is the sent to the server for forwarding.

Other applications fetch server side information which has been cached or locally stored and deliver it to the passengers for on device viewing, as the weather application or the flight show.

  

The list of applications is long and growing, and supports laptops with Windows, MacOS and Linux. Supported PDA and smarthphones platforms are OS X (PlaneBill is participating to the iPhone Developer program), Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Symbian, with more coming soon as devices will be introduced (Google Android).

Electronic Bill Presentation (EBP) of passenger's bills is one example of how mobile applications integrate with on board billing. Passengers can request to JetBill the current status of their bills, and can upload it to their device.

One very interesting application is a PlaneRoaming client which queries a roaming database before placing a call, enabling thus to reach and be reached during flight time at predetermined numbers or for example skype identities. Please visit http:://www.planeroaming.com for more information

Of course the same set of applications available to passengers are available for crew members mobility requirements inside the cabin.

Crew members can remotize the passenger Credit Card authentication, Duty Free Purchasing, On board restaurant orders intake using mobile applications on PDA or tablet PC. Crew members can also file cabin logbooks for any notes they have to take during the flight.

                     

On board lottery and gambling servers are also available, and these applications integrate directly with JetBill for handling prepaid authorization, and credit wins to passenger's accounts.

 

              

As an additional example of Passenger applications, frequent flyers travelling often as visitors to the US can automatically fill electronically the required I-94 form, by inheriting static data details from the passenger personal PDA database, filling the remaining fields and generating electronically the I-94 form. In the future this form could be electronically delivered to the immigration airport authorities to speed up and automate the registration procedures.

Please visit the downloads section of our web site for coming soon demo versions of some clients for Windows (2000, Xp, Vista), Mac OS , and Linux. These program requires connection to the JetPortal server for full functionality.

    

For a full list of available on board applications please contact:

planebill@planebill.com