The days of paper tickets are numbered: IATA

22 February 2008

New Delhi: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today began an important countdown, 100 days to 100 per cent e-ticketing.

''In 100 days the paper ticket gets put in a museum. On June 1, 2008 we will achieve 100 per cent electronic ticketing,'' said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general and CEO.

IATA began the drive to 100 per cent e-ticketing as part of its 'Simplifying the Business' programme in June 2004, with the dual goals of making travel and shipping more convenient and more cost efficient.

The programme began with five projects, bar coded boarding passes (BCBP), common use kiosks for self service (CUSS), RFID for aviation, e-ticketing and e-freight with annual industry savings of $6.5 billion. It has since expanded to include the self-service oriented Fast Travel project and an industry Baggage Improvement Programme.

''E-ticketing is the flagship project of 'Simplifying the Business'. While a paper ticket costs $10 to process, e-ticketing reduces that cost to $1. The industry will save over $3 billion each year by offering the passenger a better service. There is no better win-win proposition,'' said Bisignani.

When the programme began in June 2004, only 18 per cent of tickets issued globally were e-tickets. Today e-ticketing penetration is over 93 per cent. ''It is an incredible industry success story. When we began over 28 million paper tickets were issued each month. We have reduced that number to less than 3 million,'' said Bisignani.