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mBlox Powers New SMS Flight Tracker Service for Star Alliance

Posted on: Monday, 19 March 2007, 09:00 CDT

mBlox, the world's largest mobile transaction network, today announced that it is working with travel and transport information company OAG to deliver a global SMS flight status alert service to the Star Alliance network. The service is available to Star Alliance customers via its Web site and provides airline passengers with free SMS and e-mail alerts on the progress of all their flights along their entire journey.

Made possible through mBlox's SMS delivery solution, the SMS update service enables Star Alliance customers to track the flights of any of the 17 member airlines, irrespective of location virtually anywhere on the planet, as well as track details of internal connecting flights. Customers can sign up for the service, which enables users to better plan their travel by receiving the following information:

One message confirming the flight's status, four hours before scheduled take-off

Update messages alerting passengers of any flight schedule delays of 15 minutes or more

Alerts to the status of all connecting flights along the passenger's journey

Details of any terminal changes

"Our passengers are increasingly looking for ways to make the most of their time while traveling and this service allows them to do this," said Philip Saunders, Vice President Commercial, Star Alliance. "OAG's partnership with mBlox has provided us with a secure, reliable delivery mechanism for SMS messages that will enable us to further differentiate our service offerings for our airline partners and make our customers' travel time easier."

Duncan Alexander, managing director at OAG, commented: "The Star Alliance network is a very important customer of OAG and our partnership with mBlox is critical to ensuring we deliver a dependable flight alert service."

"We're delighted that our partner OAG is enabling millions of Star Alliance passengers to access this valuable service. Passengers now have a mobile tool to stay up-to-date on the status of all their flights, and avoid unnecessary waiting time at airports for those meeting them," said Andrew Bud, executive chairman at mBlox. "Our global SMS delivery platform will serve those who need information when they need it most -- when they are on the move. By working with OAG we are helping the Star Alliance network meet its industry-leading customer service targets."

About mBlox

mBlox is the world's largest mobile transaction network. Specializing in the commercial and technical complexities of mobile payment and message transmission, mBlox is in the business of connecting companies with customers. The result of this dedicated attention to messaging services is that mBlox delivers comprehensive and dependable SMS transport and financial settlement services. With an international network of offices, mature operator relationships and carrier-grade infrastructure, mBlox powers mobile business. mBlox is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with EMEA headquarters in London, Asia headquarters in Singapore and offices around the world. For further information visit www.mblox.com.

About OAG

OAG is a global flight information and data solutions company with 9 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia. It provides data, advertising and market analysis solutions to the corporate travel, passenger aviation and cargo sectors. More information about the company, its products and its services is available on the OAG web sites www.oag.com, www.oagdata.com and www.oagcargo.com.

OAG is part of Commonwealth Business Media (www.cbizmedia.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of United Business Media plc (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com).

About Star Alliance

The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer customers worldwide reach and a smooth travel experience. Star Alliance was voted Best Airline Alliance by Business Traveller Magazine in 2003 and 2006 and by Skytrax in 2003 and 2005. The members are Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, THAI, United and US Airways. Regional member carriers Adria Airways (Slovenia), Blue1 (Finland) and Croatia Airlines enhance the global network. Air China, Shanghai Airlines and Turkish Airlines have all been accepted as future members and are expected to join Star Alliance soon. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 16,000 daily flights to 855 destinations in 155 countries.

Source: Business Wire

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