bmi, the low cost carrier, is carrying out tests for a new boarding pass which is sent directly to the mobile phones of customers.

bmi passengers travelling on routes from London Heathrow Airport to Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh will be able to have the chance of experiencing the new paper-less feature, sent as a text message directly to their mobile phones and displaying a barcode which will be scanned at security and at the boarding entrance. The barcode will be valid for use only once. This is a new development and if it goes successful in its experimentation, it would be a revolutionary concept to avoid paper-based boarding passes.

The carrier is hopeful that the new service will help reducing the amount of time travellers spend at the airport, as it allows those who have no baggage to avoid check-in and have the boarding pass directly without spending too much of time at check-in lines.

And, if the trial run of the new service proves successful, it will be introduced to more of the carrier's routes across the UK and could witness the closing stages of print at home tickets for the customers of bmi, who would be able to take the tickets directly on their mobile phone sets.

bmi is the first airline company in the UK to run a trial for such a service and no wonder if some other airlines would also plunge into its use.