Aviation industry bids farewell to paper tickets

Global - The airline industry has said a fond goodbye to paper tickets, in the hope of offsetting rising fuel costs.

“Today we say goodbye to an industry icon,” said Giovanni Bisignani, International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general and CEO. “The paper ticket has served us well, but its time is over. After four years of hard work by airlines around the world, tomorrow marks the beginning of a new, more convenient and more efficient era for air travel.”

With the current the price of oil in the region of US$120 per barrel, IATA said this measure will assist companies in the industry to manage the oil-related financial strain that has been cast worldwide.

Bisignani said the benefits e-ticketing will bring to the airline business are real. The cost of processing the airline tickets will be reduced from US$10 for the paper ticket down to US$1 for the electronic ticket. This will amount to a total saving of over US$3 billion annually.

To implement the e-ticketing conversion, IATA recruited a global team of 150 people to assist airlines and system provides globally over the span of four years.

"In four years we achieved what many thought was impossible. We made 100% ET a reality everywhere - from our largest hubs to small remote island airports with no electricity. It is an incredible industry achievement," said Bisignani.

The remaining 32 million unused paper tickets worldwide will be reclaimed, destroyed and recycled with the efforts of 60,000 travel agents in more than 200 countries collecting the remains.

IATA said that the switch will also serve as a green initiative as it will save about 50,000 trees a year.