Gulf Air works with Anixe to launch hybrid mobile apps and develop native versions

Carrier says over 30% of flights are booked via mobile devices

National carrier of Bahrain Gulf Air has launched hybrid mobile applications for both the iOS and Android platforms built by travel technology provider Anixe.

The app allows the Middle Eastern carrier’s customers to control their travel experience from their personal device from booking to boarding.

Gulf Air said it sees over 30% of flights were booked via mobile devices. Therefore, the airline decided to expand sales channels by introducing a mobile solution via app stores.

Anixe was brought in to provide a mobile app that enabled seamless interaction across platforms, covered the complete travel cycle and had a consistent user interface and robust architecture.

Functionalities and graphic design for the user interface were designed to ensure consistency with the internet booking engine or were adjusted to airline requirements to improve the overall user experience, said Anixe.

The first version was developed fully native which means each app is built separately for every operating system like iOS and Android. Meanwhile the hybrid app is a shell developed independently for each system, which launches the app on the website. Both solutions provide a similar user-experience and are available in tapp stores.

As developing a native app takes twice as long, both Anixe and Gulf Air decided to go with the hybrid version first, so the project was divided into several phases.

Hybrid mobile app users can enjoy online check-in and time table modules on their portable devices. Splash and loading screens were customised to support all language versions Gulf Air presents on its website. On the iOS, the user experience was expanded by a native tab bar, content browsing and access to the main modules.

Gulf Air said it is is committed to being an “industry leader developing products and services that reflect the evolving needs and aspirations of its passengers.” The airline operates a customer-oriented business model that assumes constant growth and innovations to shorten the distance between clients and the airline, the company continued.

Vincent Coste, Gulf Air chief commercial officer, said: “We chose Anixe for this project as their offer and competences stand out from the competition. At this day and age the importance of technology is at its highest as customers are becoming more and more tech-savvy and we are happy to cater for their needs with the launch of our mobile app.

“We invite our passengers to download the app and interact with its multi functions. We will continue to develop and add more features in the future to provide a smooth and seamless travel experience for everyone.”

Anixe is currently working on the native app to empower Gulf Air with a native mobile technology with a B2C flow. The upgraded version will include a range of additional modules.

In the next steps of the development, push notification services will be available as well as a boarding pass and online/offline messaging center to support the app even without having access to the internet.

There will also be advanced push notifications with two main purposes; providing the passenger with more information about their flight or baggage and selling ancillary services to monetise the mobile channel.

The native app has been designed to be a single point of contact for clients to search and book flights, ancillaries and whatever the customers need. The airline will be empowered by the new mobile app with extended promotional capabilities and allow for users to directly contact with the brand at any time.