Lufthansa has launched an app for the new Apple Watch, which allows passengers to use the device as a boarding card and have all the essential flight information displayed on the passenger's wrist.

It serves as an ideal travel companion, allowing passengers to access from 24 hours before their flight all the information and during the various stages of their journey with Lufthansa.

The new app on the Apple Watch connects to the conventional Lufthansa app on iPhones and iPads via Bluetooth. Following the sales launch, it can now be downloaded for free from the App Store at any time, the airline said.

Jens Bischof, member of the Lufthansa German Airlines board for sales, product & marketing at Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: “The importance of mobile applications is continuing to grow rapidly. As a leading airline, we want to continuously expand our prime position – not just on board our flights and on the ground, but also in the area of mobile applications and digital services. Our goal is to provide our customers with information and services in real time at all virtual touch points, thereby further to make their travel experience more comfortable. With this new app, our passengers will always be able to see the most important details about their flight – without having to take their smartphone out of their bag.”

The new Apple Watch app uses technology that integrates all the flight-related data and displays it clearly for the user to see. It reminds passengers of their flight the day before their departure, provides continuous updates about the status of the flight and displays the boarding time, terminal, gate and seat number. Just like a timer, it enables passengers to see – down to the very minute – how long is left until their scheduled boarding time. The graphics have been designed especially for the display on the Apple Watch. These functions will initially only be available to Miles & More participants who are logged in to the Lufthansa app for iPhones or iPads. For passengers who do not have a Miles & More card, these functions will be available at a later date.

All passengers will also be able to display boarding cards saved in Passbook on their Apple Watch and use it for boarding. In addition, the watch will tell passengers what the current weather is at their destination. As with the existing apps, a large number of Lufthansa customers were asked for their ideas and opinions for the development of this new service, it said.

The ‘app age’ began at Lufthansa back in 2009 with a range of different applications for all the main operating systems. Since then, Lufthansa’s apps have received numerous awards. Lufthansa was also the first airline to develop and launch the mobile boarding card, which has enabled paper-free boarding since 2008. Today, more than 50 per cent of Lufthansa passengers check in with an online or mobile boarding card. - TradeArabia News Service