Flight booking checks into mobiles

Justtheflight.co.uk, a flight booking website based in the Isle of Man, claims to be the first to launch a search-and-book facility for the mobile phone.

The company, owned and operated by Online Retail Travel Group (ORTG), offers consumers the ability to search, book and pay for flights through their mobile phone. The service is not entirely comprehensive though and not all airlines have signed up.

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Flight bookings must be made in English and paid for with a credit card, although the company plans to widen this to other languages in the near future, and is planning to adapt the service for corporate customers.

ORTG CEO Brian Kelly said in a statement: "Being first to market means the opportunities are endless. Mobile is the PC of the future, improved speed and falling costs for downloading data makes searching and booking flights a viable, quick and convenient option, breaking the tie with the office or home PC."

ORTG is one of the companies encouraged by the Isle of Man government to base operations on the island, in an attempt to boost the local economy. The island has courted large IT suppliers, such as O2, acted as a test bed for bleeding edge technologies and is building up a state-of-the-art communications infrastructure into the bargain.

Ron Berry, head of inward investment for the Isle of Man government said in a statement: "Ecommerce is providing a great boom for the Isle of Man and is key to its business development strategy. It is a market that is growing rapidly and we are echoing this currently with our expansion into new ebusiness sectors."