KUALA LUMPUR: Low-cost airline AirAsia has launched a software program that lets customers keep track of its airfares, promotions and even free seats from their computer without using an Internet browser.

The new software, called AirAsia Gadget, can be downloaded for free from www.airasia.com for those who have Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system installed on their computer.

Latest software: AirAsia stewardesses (from left) Ellena Zainal, Rebecca Oh and Ili Diyana showing boxes of the new Windows Vistaoperating system, which will be required to run AirAsia Gadget.

“(Gadget) will enable frequent AirAsia fliers to stay abreast of the airline’s promotions and offers without the bother of having to point their browsers to the airline’s website and monitoring it manually,” said AirAsia vice-president Kathleen Tan.

“It will also help those who are keen to snap up the free seats and promotional offers before they run out,” she said.

“Our frequent travellers (will) know when we announce these offers, often at midnight, and they can then be first in the queue and save themselves a lot of money.”

Gadget will also encourage even more people to visit the airline's website, which is already one of the most successful in Asia, according to Tan.

The website drew some 800,000 unique visitors and had 90 million impressions a month from users in 200 countries, she said.

AirAsia flies to more than 80 destinations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, China, and the Philippines. It will also begin flights to London this year.

Because Gadget resides on a user’s computer rather than on AirAsia’s website, it can be customised to the user’s preferences.

For instance, it can be set to remember that the user likes to book air travel for certain times of the year or to some favourite destination, said Tyson Dowd, senior director for Malaysian software economy at Microsoft Malaysia.

The information about each customer’s travel preferences would also help AirAsia plan its flights, Tan added.

AirAsia Gadget was unveiled on Wednesday in conjunction with Microsoft Malaysia’s launch of the business version of Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp’s new operating system which was launched in the United States, Japan and several other countries on Tuesday and which will be launched in Malaysia tomorrow.

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