Etihad Airways has introduced mobile boarding passes on select routes including to/from London Heathrow and Manchester.
The new facility is available to passengers using the Gulf carrier's mobile online check-in app.
The mobile boarding passes will contain the same information as traditional passes, including name, seat number, flight number, gate number and a barcode to be scanned by an electronic reader at the departure gate.
Passengers will now receive each mobile boarding pass directly to their smartphone, where iOS device owners can save it using the Passbook feature, or it can be sent via email.
Currently, the new feature is available for passengers travelling from Abu Dhabi (apart from those going to the US), Heathrow, Manchester, Doha, Colombo, Dammam, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Minsk, Munich and Tokyo Narita.
Etihad Airways CCO Peter Baumgartner said: "Our aim is to simplify and streamline the departure and boarding experience.
"The elimination of paper boarding passes will be more convenient for our guests and reduce our environmental footprint, which is good for the guest, the business and for the environment."
The number of Etihad Airways airport gateways equipped with the mobile boarding pass readers will increase as the airline installs the new technology across its global network.
Graham Smith
