China Airlines opens airport Internet Mobile Office

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- China Airlines, Cisco and Infoserve are installing an Internet Mobile Office service at China Airlines' VIP lounge in CKS Airport in Taipei. "The Internet Mobile Office in our VIP lounge is another innovation we introduced to further improve our service to passengers," said Christine Tsung, president of China Airlines.

She added that this makes China Airlines the first air carrier in Asia to introduce wireless broadband access to the Internet in VIP lounges. China Airlines will also gradually introduce the Internet service to its self- operated VIP lounges in Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Okinawa, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Internet Mobile Office service will be inaugurated in Kaohsiung this month and in Hong Kong by the end of the year. 

"As a market leader in Asian air industry, China Airlines consistently consolidates useful resources for its e-environment," Tsung said. "According to a professional survey on first class service in the world airline industry, China Airlines ranked ninth. The Internet Mobile Office in our VIP lounge is another innovation we introduced to further improve our service to passengers."

Mobile technology users

She cited studies that forecast tremendous growth in mobile technology users. "A total of 1.5 billion sets of mobile phone and portable computer with wireless access will be sold by year 2004," Tsung said. "This trend will unveil a craze for wireless mobile office. The new service will provide secure platform for business professionals to access their corporate network."

A long-time partner of China Airlines in e-solutions, Infoserve will continue to support China Airlines' corporate objectives. 

"The demand for mobile business is on the rise globally," said Larry Sun, country manager of Cisco Systems Taiwan. "The Cisco Internet Mobile Office offers leading companies and service providers a solution to provide wireless access to Internet. Cisco Taiwan is pleased to be working with China Airlines to provide the first wireless wide-band access to Internet in Asian airline industry."

Last April, China Airlines completed work with six mobile phone service suppliers in Taiwan to provide short message service (SMS). Mobile phone users can receive message of flight information if they register at the China Airlines Web site. This followed the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) service for mobile phone users which was introduced to the market by the airline a month earlier. 

Tsung, 53, was appointed president of China Airlines in July 2000. She is a graduate of National Taiwan University, and has an MBA degree from the University of Missouri. Before returning to Taiwan, she was the finance director of the City of Poway in San Diego County, California. Tsung was a consultant for the Mass Transit System Project in Kaohsiung City Government before joining China Airlines.