The iflyA380 app uses augmented reality to create a more engaging experience than what's provided on the website, which functions primarily as a metasearch engine, delivering more choices, features and content. Like the original website, the app is based around the view that passengers are actively seeking out routes and schedules flown using the A380.
"Customers today increasingly expect to design their own experiences and the app gives them the power to do so," says Airbus, but booking flights and staying updated with real-time notifications is just the beginning. "Travellers will also enjoy a wide range of exclusive innovative services linked to the A380, including the option to explore destinations based on geolocation and personal interests and cabin discovery in virtual reality. They will also enjoy a connected and immersive in-flight experience based on an augmented reality feature".
This includes being able to see cities, islands, monuments and other landmarks as they fly over them when passengers point their phones out the window, while within the aircraft they can also virtually walk through the cabin, even take a sneaky peak in the cockpit and access real-time information about altitude, speed, time to destination, etc.
Airbus says the response to the original iflyA380.com website "has been fantastic" and the iflyA380 app offers a "new step" for manufacturer towards offering digital services that "directly benefit consumers and allow them to design their own experiences".
To date, over 200 million passengers have flown with the A380 and Airbus has christened the aircraft 'the passengers' favourite' after an independent survey which discovered 98% of A380 passengers would recommend flying on the A380 to their friends and family.
"The A380 offers more personal space and the widest seats in the sky in all classes, including economy class. As the smoothest, quietest flight, it offers accessible luxury and unparalleled comfort in all classes," says the manufacturer.
The type currently serves 60 destinations across a network of more than 120 routes flown by 13 airlines: Air France, Asiana Airlines, British Airways, China Southern Airlines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International.
You can find out more about the iflyA380 app in the video below: