Interesting report released by Amadeus today outlining its vision for how mobile will influence both passengers and airlines over the next few years.
Perhaps the most intriguing element is the study's view on how quickly (or not) the sale of airline ancillary product will develop via mobile handsets.
The report, written by Travel Tech Consulting boss and Tnooz node Norm Rose, says the majority of the airlines around the world that were interviewed felt the ability to sell ancillary products via mobiles was "still over a year away".
Only one (unnamed) airline in North America has the ability to sell ancillary services through mobiles, the report claims, although a number of airlines in the Middle East and Scandinavia claim to have plans to increase their mobile offering into the ancillary area in the next six months.
Presumably the hoped-for explosion will kick in within the next few years at a wider scale.
Unsurprisingly, then, the study found that just 1.4% of passengers had used a mobile to buy an ancillary product from an airline.
Amadeus suggests mobile could be a useful tool as way of "providing both increased incremental revenue opportunities and the ability for airlines to differentiate themselves from the competition".
Traveller demand for mobile functionality from airlines is apparently growing, with the report finding 16% of consumers are currently using a handset to book trips. The figure increases to 18% for 18 to 35 year olds and a third overall for frequent fliers.
Still, just 3.4% of the 3,000 interviewed for the study use mobiles for flight check-in, with consumers in Asia coming in at 7.4%.
There is a full report to download, but also a rather handy infographic, too [click image for a larger version]: