A Cambridge University and SITA, an airline IT provider, research suggests that airlines could save around $500 million with the help of passenger cellphones.

Delays cost airlines a lot of money and is can be drastically reduces if mobile phones on board could be used as news services regarding the flight. Mobile phones can become a travel agenda containing news and also boarding passes, payment data, baggage tracking and other similar information, this could reduce number of delays says the research.

According to a SITA official, mobile services will be available worldwide to all passengers in about five years and that by 2010 almost 70 per cent of all airlines will have a special offer for mobile check-in.

The importance of mobile phones has grown rapidly even for the traveling business. Around 82 per cent of airlines will offer notification services on cellphones.