Air Canada unveils 'Beam and Fly' station for Premium passengers

Palm Canada and Air Canada today unveiled their "Beam & Fly" station in the Air Canada Domestic Maple Leaf lounge at Pearson International Airport. The Beam & Fly station is a unique kiosk that allows travelers to receive  up-to-the-minute flight schedules, destination guides, world news, sports  briefs, and airport maps simply by beaming them into their Palm(TM) handheld computers.

Expected by Palm Canada to become a travel standard in all Maple Leaf business lounges, Beam & Fly provides users with a host of relevant applications designed specifically for the self-serve traveler. Using unique  beaming technology developed by Bluefish Wireless, users can download a specially developed Air Canada portal, in either English or French, to their Palm handhelds, complete with a variety of customized links to browse with the look and feel of websites.

The Air Canada portal can be beamed into any Palm OS(R) based handheld, and features applications that focus on the fundamentals of business travel: 

- Daily News - Daily updates of headline news and summaries of Canadian and international newspapers, provided by CyberPresse and The Globe & Mail.

- Promotion and Flight Communication - Up-to-the minute flight information and scheduling, including arrivals, departures, terminals, gates and delays, as well as special holiday and vacation promotions.

- Airport Maps - Directional guides for services, shopping and other facilities at airports and terminals.

- City Guides - Envoyage destination guides, by Qvadis -- pocket destination guides for Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal that include city essentials for culture, restaurants, hotels, nightlife, shopping, sightseeing, special events, downtown maps and more. More cities are expected to be added soon.

- Customer Survey - Provided by Air Canada, this application helps determine what services should be included in future Information Centres (for example, translator software) and from Air Canada in general.

"Air Canada's award-winning Maple Leaf Lounges offer a private and welcoming environment to our premium customers," said Pierre Bourbonniere, manager, Airport Products, Air Canada. "Our lounges are designed to make the time prior to boarding quiet, relaxing and productive. Palm handhelds complement existing lounge technology and are a perfect fit for our business travelers who need up-to-the-minute access to flight and destination information."

"As a pioneer of handheld technology, Palm is thrilled to add another 'first' to its roster of business alliances," says Michael Moskowitz, president, Palm Canada. "As one of the world's most prominent cities, Toronto is an excellent starting point for what we hope will become a global standard in travel technology."