DUBAI // Emirates Airline has introduced a paperless boarding pass system that gives passengers the option of having the document sent to their smartphones.
Passengers who want an electronic boarding pass need to check in online and ask for a web link to their pass to be sent by e-mail or text message.
A bar-coded pass is then displayed on their mobile phone.
Emirates staff can scan and read the bar code at all check-in counters, airport security checkpoints, Dubai immigration, Emirates lounges and boarding gates.
Mohammed Mattar, the head of airport services at the airline, said the mobile passes met "the demands of a new era of travellers, who seek a more sophisticated and efficient means of managing their business and leisure travel".
Emirates bosses say it will make travel more convenient by allowing customers to keep all of their travel paperwork in one place.
The airline expects to save at least half a tonne of paper in the first year alone.
It plans to extend the mobile passes to 30 other airports.
nhanif@thenational.ae
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
