Flying Messenger, which is hosted by Wireless Information Network, provides consumers with real-time flight status information via text message. Over the next three months, it will become available to consumers who want to receive flight information for flights to and from airports including Stansted and Glasgow.
Duncan Tolson, BAA director of commercial telecoms and media, said: "The Flying Messenger service is a prime example of how SMS can greatly enhance customer service by delivering useful information quickly and efficiently."
He said SMS is ideally suited to the travel industry, or any industry where people or products are on the move, because it delivered simple information in real time, in an easy to use, cost-effective and personalised manner.
"BAA is using text to great effect here, but this is only the beginning of what mobile solutions can deliver," he added.
The BAA service comes in two versions: Flying Messenger enables users to receive a one-off instant status update on any flight arriving at or departing from a BAA airport. The more sophisticated Flying Messenger Plus service delivers constantly updated information on a particular flight over a period of 12 hours or more.
Consumers wishing to sign up to the service must sent a text message to 82222, quoting the airport code, such as LHR for London Heathrow, and flight number.
Yesterday, BAA said that it planned to axe 700 jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive. The airport operator also reported a 5.2% rise in pre-tax profits for the first half of 2005.
BAA controls seven UK airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
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