Airlines commit to paperless ticketing by 2007
Airlines commit to paperless ticketing by 2007
The heads of the world's leading airlines have jointly committed to total implementation of e-ticketing by the end of 2007 as part of a wider initiative to re-engineer many of the air transport industry's processes to simplify the airline business process.
Of course, many travellers already use the e-ticketing method, printing out an email confirmation of their flight details at their home or office. The recently launched Qantas owned budget airline Jetstar allows its customers to book their flights by SMS, with an average of three text messages required to be sent to complete the booking (see link at the foot of this story for more details)."We will drive paper tickets out of the system, reduce airline costs and at the same time improve customer service," said Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The decision came as a resolution of the Association's 60th Annual General Meeting, taking place in Singapore. E-ticketing is one of four projects that IATA will lead. The others include Common-Use Self-Service Check-in Kiosks (CUSS), Bar Codes and Radio Frequency Baggage Tag Identification (RFID).
"Airlines have done a great job at innovation. Now it is time for IATA to take the next step, and apply the latest technologies to 21st century business practice and change the way the world travels by air. Consumers demand convenience and value. But they are not willing to pay for the complexity that we have built into our global air transport system. We need to simplify our processes to respond to the consumer's need while at the same time ensuring commercial viability for our struggling airlines," said Bisignani.
The initiatives parallel the IATA-led Simplifying Passenger Travel (SPT) campaign. SPT focuses on working with governments to move towards biometric identification technology to make passenger processing more convenient and secure.
Bisignani said the combined implementation of these technologies will define a new era for the travel experience. "We are well on our way achieving greater efficiency, security and convenience throughout a passenger's journey. The industry has decided on a direction and we will make this change happen."
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