IATA praises China for e-ticketing initiative

Geneva, Dec 14 (UNI) Almost all of air tickets issued in China for domestic travel are in electronic form, up from 10 per cent a year ago.

An electronic ticket holds the information previously held on a paper ticket. It requires a database integrated with the airline's passenger service system that interfaces with all partners for the real time processing of passengers by ground handlers and interline partners.

In India, many airlines like Jet Airways, Indian and Kingfisher as well as low-cost carriers have also introduced e-ticketing.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), representing 265 airlines that carry 94 per cent of scheduled air traffic, has fixed 2007-end as deadline for 100 per cent implementation of e-ticketing worldwide.

It had fixed 06-end for 70 per cent implementation which was achieved in October, largely due to efforts made by the Chinese government.

''In just over a year, e-ticketing levels in China went up to 100 per cent from 10 per cent,'' said Mr Philippe Bruyere, IATA's programme director for Simplifying the Business (StB) programme.

The IATA believes 100 per cent implementation of e-ticketing worldwide by next year-end will result in three billion dollars of annual savings for the global airlines industry.

A total of 185 airlines are capable of issuing e-tickets. Last month, about 72 per cent of air tickets issued worldwide were in electronic form.

One fifth of ticket volumes in the IATA's billing settlement plan are issued in China. The general administration of civil aviation in China had made the IATA's StB a national programme.

It backed that up by enabling the use of e-tickets for tax purposes and mandating the phase out of paper tickets for domestic travel starting October 16.

''That combined with collaboration between airlines, a local supplier and the IATA led to amazing results,'' said Mr Bruyere.

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