Etihad Airways has introduced mobile boarding passes on select routes for passengers using its mobile online check-in facility.

The new facility, which is available to Etihad Airways’ passengers travelling from its UK departure points of London Heathrow and Manchester, offers increased check-in options, reduces paper wastage, eliminates the risk of boarding pass loss, and enables the storage of multiple boarding passes on one mobile device.

Peter Baumgartner, chief commercial officer, Etihad Airways, said: “Our aim is to simplify and streamline the departure and boarding experience.

“The elimination of paper boarding passes will be more convenient for our guests and reduce our environmental footprint, which is good for the guest, the business and for the environment.”

The new mobile boarding passes will contain the same information as traditional passes including guest name, seat number, flight number, gate number and a barcode which will be scanned by an electronic reader at the departure gate.

Passengers will now be able to receive their mobile boarding passes directly to their smart phone, saved using the Passbook feature on iOS operated devices, or saved and sent to an email address, thus allowing maximum flexibility.

The number of Etihad Airways airport gateways equipped with the mobile boarding pass readers will steadily increase as the airline installs the new technology across its global network.

Currently the new feature is available for passengers travelling from Abu Dhabi (except to the United States), London Heathrow, Manchester, Doha, Colombo, Dammam, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Minsk, Munich, and Tokyo Narita.