e-tickets set to change 'skyscape' of air travel

Chennai, Sep 28 (UNI) Come June next year, air travel on paper tickets will be replaced by e-tickets.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that all tickets issued through its billing and clearance systems will go electronic from June 1, 2008.

According to IATA, the proposed e-ticketing (ET) will help its members maintain a complete electronic record of passengers and more.

ET, which is more verifiable and costs less, will also reduce paper work and the risk of forgery or impersonation. All IATA members with have to comply since a major portion of all foreign exchange transactions in aviation are done through its clearing systems.

''ET is an industry initiative which will help the airline industry save three billion US Dollars (USD) annually on an average of around nine USD per ticket,'' Neela Bhattacherjee, Head SBU, Airlines of Kale Consultants told UNI.

Specifically, e-tickets also impact the revenue accounting function of an airline (an area of Kale's expertise), she said.

Explaining Kale's active role in providing ET software to airline service providers in India, she said the software has to be provided as part of the ticketing solution used by airlines.

These could be CRS and GDS systems which are industry solutions like Amadeus and Sabre or in house proprietary solutions used by the airlines.

''This software will most likely be either an in house or hosted solution which is used by an airline through its website or though its ticketing systems,'' she said.

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