Air New Zealand to launch Apple Watch app

Air New Zealand to launch Apple Watch app

Air New Zealand will soon become one of the first New Zealand companies to launch an app for the highly anticipated Apple Watch™.

Details of Apple’s first wearable device were revealed by Apple Inc. this morning New Zealand time at a launch event in San Francisco.

Air New Zealand customers with the Apple Watch will soon be able to receive flight information and notifications on their device including boarding calls, a departure countdown feature and their electronic boarding pass. Those eligible for lounge access will even be able to order barista made coffee at some of the airline’s lounges straight from their wrist.

Air New Zealand Chief Information Officer Julia Raue says the airline’s developers visited Apple in California during the development of the app.

“We are continually looking at ways to enhance the customer experience and digital plays a key role in this. Our new Apple Watch app will allow us to provide real time flight updates to our customers in a unique way. Our in-house developers visited the team at Apple in California as they created the app and we’re looking forward to introducing it to our customers in the coming weeks,” says Ms Raue.

Air New Zealand’s watch app will also feature the popular coffee-ordering function first introduced on the airline’s mobile app in 2014. It automatically invites customers to order their coffee as they enter the lounge* and alerts the customer when it is ready to be picked up from the barista station.

Apple has announced the Apple Watch will be available for sale from 24 April to customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US. No sale date has yet been announced for New Zealand. Air New Zealand expects its updated iPhone and Watch app to be available in line with these release dates.

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