flydubai takes to hackathon route to develop new app for air travel

Winners of the hackathon will be offered, among other things, an internship with the airline

Low-cost carrier flydubai today announced a partnership with Hyderabad-based tech start-up HackMania to promote its application programming interface (API) App Store.

Focusing on Passenger Service Systems (PSS), a series of hackathons will be conducted throughout the year to enable hackers across India to develop products covering various themes around air travel and customer experience, the company said.

flydubai is also setting up its first 'Indian Development Centre' (IDC) in Hyderabad. The centre will lead flydubai's IT and technology innovation and will be a hub for software development, research and operations.

The winners of the hackathon will be offered an internship with the airline and will have the opportunity to incubate their ideas to deliver innovative travel solutions and contribute to flydubai's App Store.

"This initiative with a leading start-up provides the opportunity for us to meet with some of the young developers currently driving innovation. The ideas generated from the hackathon, being held in India, will help to ensure that we remain at the forefront of technological developments.

This platform will also help us build a strong relationship with the technology community in Hyderabad,"said Ramesh Venkat, flydubai's chief information officer.

HackMania, a talent acquisition product company, will mobilise and vet coders before they take part in the challenge.

"We are a young start-up and it is a great opportunity for us to work with an international airline like flydubai. This year long initiative is aimed at taking advantage of the wave of digital expansion. We expect participation from more than 100 hackers at the event and aim to develop around 15 working prototypes through this initiative," said 23-year-old Rajat Shahi, Founder and CEO, HackMania.