Copa Holdings is a leading Latin American provider of passenger and cargo services. Through its operating subsidiaries, Copa Airlines provides service to 55 destinations in 27 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. It is one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the industry. Copa Airlines worked closely with NCR Corporation to implement a comprehensive mobile self-service solution that includes mobile website functionality including check-in and mobile boarding pass delivery.
Objectives of the deployment or the technology:
Copa Airlines saw the opportunity to drive efficiencies and improve the passenger experience by implementing mobile self-service technologies to divert passenger traffic away from the check-in counters. By launching m.copaair.com, Copa Airlines looked to empower their customers by offering them convenient access to critical travel information and enabling them to quickly check-in for their flights. To close the self-service loop, mobile boarding pass delivery following web and mobile check-in allows passengers to bypass check-in lines at the airport—ensuring an efficient and stress-free journey.
Results achieved relative to the objectives:
By implementing comprehensive mobile self-service technologies, Copa Airlines has been able to process more passengers without expanding its airport footprint, keeping operational costs down as well as addressing the needs of its passengers In the first few months following the launch of its mobile boarding pass service, Copa Airlines experienced volumes of almost 25,000 boarding pass deliveries, allowing passengers to avoid the check-in counter lines and head straight to the security checkpoint. Today, the airline is consistently sending over 25,000 mobile boarding passes per month.
Shortly following the launch of m.copaair.com in April 2011, Copa Airlines saw over 75,000 hits a month, which has put critical travel information conveniently at its passengers’ fingertips. To date, the mobile site has had over 880,000 visits and is estimated to hit the one million mark before its one-year anniversary.
With the powerful combination of a fully optimized mobile website and mobile boarding pass delivery, Copa has been able to offer its customers an efficient and intuitive “anytime, anywhere” service, culminating in reduced operational costs and decreased congestion within the airport.
“Copa Airlines and Tocumen International Airport (with the launch of m.copaair.com) have become the first airline-airport tandem in Latin America to accept mobile boarding passes, giving our passengers an additional reason to travel through Copa Airlines´ Hub of the Americas,” said Rafael Mas G., eServices Manager for Copa Airlines. “At the same time, Copa’s environmentally friendly innovation gives passengers a paperless boarding option.”
Size and geographic location(s) of the deployment:
Copa Airlines launched NCR mobile self-service solutions (a fully optimized mobile website and mobile boarding pass delivery method) to its travelers.
In the first few months following the launch of its mobile boarding pass service, Copa Airlines experienced volumes of almost 25,000 boarding pass deliveries, allowing passengers to avoid the check-in counter lines and head straight to the security checkpoint. Today, the airline is consistently sending over 25,000 mobile boarding passes per month.
Shortly following the launch of m.copaair.com in April 2011, Copa Airlines saw over 75,000 hits a month, which has put critical travel information conveniently at its passengers’ fingertips. To date, the mobile site has had over 880,000 visits and is estimated to hit the one million mark before its one-year anniversary.
| Brian Unold accepts the award on behalf of NCR. |
Selected judges’ comments:
- Full featured website with all of the functionality you need to manage your travel through Copa Airlines.
- Very smart deployment of a mobile solution. Copa isn't the first to market with this solution, but it's deployment has some great features. I like the mobile-optimized site (meaning it's device agnostic) with graphics that aren't data-intensive. Also availability in Spanish and Portuguese. Some useful travel information as well.
- Excellent write up - very clear around objectives and plans; excellent results with supporting data; very "clean" looking app that is easy to use
- The significant uptake nearing a million users in its first year is a testament to the ease of learning, ease of use and high value of this mobile application.
- The numbers are great. Sometimes simple is all you need to provide an effective utilitarian experience.
- As a frequent traveler and user of mobile check in, I liked what I saw. Visually appealing and user friendly.
Read more: Copa Airlines case study
