Air Malta last week launched its new extensive portal www.airmalta.com with a new enhanced internet booking engine. The new portal is yet another step in the airline’s initiatives to keep abreast of the continuous changes in the airline and travel industry and to use the best new technology available on the market to better promote the Maltese islands and the airline.
The portal has been designed to offer a one-stop-shop to customers through a range of online booking and payment facilities that include Air Malta flights, a wide selection of hotel accommodation in Malta and car hire.
It is available in four languages: English, French, German and Italian, and has been redesigned in a way that provides a clear content structure and a better aesthetic design, thus making the site easy to navigate.
Through a simple click one can now access various information pages, including an interactive map of the Maltese islands, an interactive diary of events in Malta, a special offers section, Flypass membership accounts, an easy to use flight timetable and weather information. One can also buy excess luggage vouchers online.
The portal uses IP recognition technology by which customers will be presented with relevant information according to their geographical location and tailor-made offers according to their needs.
The state-of-the-art booking engine enables customers to book Air Malta flights in five easy steps. A calendar display shows customers a one week before and one week after price scenario, together with a range of colour-coded fares available. This enables them to choose the best price option tailored for their requirements. No other airline operating into Malta gives this transparency option.
A summary of the fare chosen gives a detailed breakdown, including any taxes and charges being made and the baggage allowance available to each passenger. And if a customer is already registered online, or a member of Flypass, he can also log on and have his details already inserted in the system without having to lose time inserting his personal details.
All clients booking online will automatically receive an E-Ticket by email, together with a unique link providing the Virtually There service, which includes all flight details, timings, weather conditions at the destination, maps and other information and travel services.
The booking engine is fully integrated with the airline’s Sabre reservations system and is directly linked with two payment gateways to allow both local and foreign cash transactions. It is also fully integrated with Holiday Malta’s booking engine, so foreign customers can book local hotel accommodation.
The portal has been developed locally by Alert Communications, and the booking engine has been developed by EB2 International, who specialise in customised internet booking solutions for airlines.
The airline has also recently launched a self-service web-based Oracle Human Resources suite for its staff. Other projects are in the pipeline and in the coming months the airline will be introducing web check-in for inbound and outbound passengers, check-in via mobile phones and personal digital assistants, a web-based strategic management tool to monitor key performance indicators by management, implementation of a revenue accounting system and other ICT initiatives.