Vive la différence!
France’s Toulouse-Blagnac airport has become the world’s first airport to trial SIM-based Near Field Communication.

This facility allows passengers to pass through the airport’s checks, controls and gates using only their mobile phones. Using the security of the SIM card, the airport will enable 50 selected passengers to trial this new service on their BlackBerry smartphones over the summer. The trial is a joint effort between SITA, Toulouse-Blagnac airport, Orange and BlackBerry. 

The test passengers’ mobiles are the latest BlackBerry smartphones, equipped with NFC technology that allow communication with other NFC-enabled devices using radio frequencies by either tapping or bringing them within a range of a few centimetres. The phone will effectively become the passenger pass, allowing him or her access to car parking, the boarding area via a premium access zone and to a premium passenger lounge. At the same time, each passenger will receive up-to-the-minute information such as changes to their flight times, departure hall or boarding gate.