No paper airline tickets by 2007
Geneva.– Nearly one out of two airline tickets issued to travellers is currently in electronic form and paper tickets are on track to disappear completely by 2007, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced recently.
The association, which represents 265 airlines accounting for 94 percent of international air traffic, indicated that it would begin penalising members that failed to introduce electronic tickets by the end of next year.
The organization said that nearly 50 percent of tickets were electronic now, but that it was aiming for 70 percent by the end of this year and 100 percent by the end of 2007.
“The real challenge is to accelerate the pace of implementation to meet the targets of 70 percent of penetration in 2006 and 100 percent by the end of 2007,” said IATA chairman Robert Milton.
IATA, which is holding its annual general meeting here, believes that phasing out paper tickets could save the industry more than $3-billion.
Electronic tickets costs $1 dollar to issue, versus $10 for a paper ticket. IATA said earlier that it expected the global airline industry to lose $3-billion this year.
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