  The coming GAIA Cornerstone mission by ESA will provide micro-arcsec
astrometry, 10 bands photometry and far-red spectroscopy for a huge number of
stars in the Galaxy (10^9). GAIA spectroscopy will cover the range 8480--8740
Ang, which includes the CaII triplet and the head of the Paschen series. In
this paper we address the diagnostic potential of this wavelength range toward
detection and characterization of peculiar stars.
