ARINC Portable Check-In Helps Virgin Atlantic Customers to 'Chill Out' a Little Longer.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ANNAPOLIS, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 26, 2004

Virgin Atlantic Airways, the second largest carrier in the UK, wants its passengers to enjoy every minute of their Caribbean holidays. That's why the airline created its popular "Check In, Chill Out," program. On the day of their departure, homeward-bound UK passengers can have their luggage picked up and their boarding passes delivered right in their hotel lobby.

But printing hundreds of boarding passes in advance, delivering each one to the correct passenger at hotels across Barbados and St Lucia, and dealing with additional requests such as seat changes posed a formidable task. Now, Virgin Atlantic has found a simpler way to please its passengers, using new technology from ARINC.

Virgin Atlantic staff now come to the hotel with a suitcase-size computer along with the boarding passes. They plug the computer into an Internet connection, and while face-to-face with each passenger, they can verify personal identification, deal with seat changes and, if necessary, print out a correct boarding pass, as well as accept the passenger's bags. The new portable technology--ARINC iMUSE Express(TM)--offers all the capability and security of a standard airport check-in computer.

"With ARINC's new technology we can enhance the convenience of 'Check In, Chill Out' for all Virgin Atlantic's passengers leaving the Caribbean," stated David Wilding, Virgin Atlantic Airport Systems Manager. "In addition, we can accommodate customers with last-minute changes because iMUSE Express offers performance just like a check-in counter at the airport."

Virgin has purchased ten iMUSE Express systems for a pilot project starting in the second quarter of 2004. The units will be rotated at larger Barbados and St Lucia hotels. If the project succeeds, Virgin may expand the service to additional hotels.

Virgin Atlantic is the first airline to make a large-scale deployment of iMUSE Express, which was introduced in 2003 at the busy Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida. That installation was the first off-site check-in for multiple airlines ever approved by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Since it was founded in 1984, Virgin Atlantic Airways has become Britain's second largest carrier serving the world's major cities. Now based at both London's Gatwick and Heathrow airports, it operates long haul services to twenty-two destinations world-wide as far apart as Las Vegas and Shanghai. Virgin Atlantic currently has a fleet of 29 aircraft which includes thirteen 747s, nine A340-300s and seven A340-600s.

ARINC Incorporated is the world leader in transportation communications and systems engineering. The company develops and operates communications and information processing systems and provides systems engineering and integration solutions to five key industries: airports, aviation, defense, government, and surface transportation. Founded to provide reliable and efficient radio communications for the airlines, ARINC is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, and operates key regional offices in London and Singapore, with over 3,000 employees worldwide. ARINC is ISO 9001:2001 Certified. For more information, visit the ARINC web site at www.arinc.com.