The airline industry could save over $600 million within the next few years if it learns how to exploit the new features in high end mobiles. According to airline IT company SITA, mobiles’ location awareness could be used to track passengers within airports and send messages to their phones to help them get to their gate on time, cutting flight delays and saving millions.

Mobile phones could also become “personal travel folders”, says SITA, holding a passenger’s boarding passes, baggage tracking information and payment data and maybe even visa and biometric information.

[via SMS Text News]