The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and communications specialist SITA have come together to provide a global electronic-ticketing interline service to stimulate industry adoption of the technology.
E-ticketing is expected to reduce processing and distribution costs, and improve customer service. Savings are estimated at $4 per ticket in the US domestic market to $8 in international markets. Predictions are of 50% market penetration by 2005.
Although a number of carriers have already started to implement e-ticketing, its widescale use is restricted by a lack of interfaces between airlines, ground handling systems and third parties. The IATA-SITA alliance is expected to simplify and streamline the exchange of e-ticket coupon data.
SITA will develop and implement a global e-ticketing solution, host the databases, provide access to a network infrastructure and systems interfaces, manage and operate the service and provide sales and customer support. IATA will handle policy and procedures, and establish a user group. The service will be available by mid-year.
Lufthansa and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) have introduced joint e-ticketing on all of their flights between Germany, Scandinavia and Finland, allowing check-in at automated terminals and "paperless flying". Lufthansa's etix service is available to 160 destinations, while SAS' E-Ticket can be used for 73 cities.Source: Flight International
