| E-Ticket Strengths Highlight, Airlines & Passengers Benefit |
| Traditional paper tickets cost more because they need to be printed, transported, stored and finally retrieved at airports. Getting rid of all, issuing an e-ticket instead of a normal paper one can save US$9 in the United States and Europe and 20 yuan (US$2.5) in China concerning lower labor costs for airlines. Facing flying fuel price, it will accumulate a considerable amount of saving in total every year for airlines. Passengers using paperless tickets also enjoyed numerous benefits, as they did not need not worry about losing printed tickets, had easier handling of itinerary changes, especially for last-minute travel decisions, and could use the Internet for booking travel and check-in.[Details] |
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| IATA & TravelSky Handed, E-Ticket Heading |
| Despite its natural benefits, E-ticket’s recent prosperity in China should also owe to the support from civil aviation organization. IATA, which represents around 265 airlines that comprise 94 per cent of international scheduled air transport has hammered out a strategic cooperative partnership agreement with TravelSky, China's leading air travel distribution technology provider, to promote e-tickets in China. The International Air Transport Association is encouraging global airlines to use e-ticketing systems to reduce rising costs resulting from the surge in fuel prices and will stop all its ticket agencies from selling the traditional paper tickets this October in all its member states, including China, this October.[Details] |
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| Airlines attended, Compatible standard is a key |
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The promotion of E-ticket get enthusiastic response from airlines based on its multi-benefits, but its practical implementation still face some questions. Currently there are two kinds of e-tickets available in the market: One is the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) e-ticket, backed by IATA and TravelSky; the other, e-tickets issued by individual airlines. It is not necessary for all carriers to host their e-tickets on TravelSky's system, but there would be a compatible standard for developing e-ticket. Information sharing, settlement and interline will count on a compatible platform, which is crucial for marketing the e-ticket. |
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| Obstacles exist, Bottleneck solved |
| The “imported” E-ticket operates well in overseas but not smoothly in China. The Chinese typical problem including traditional purchasing habits, a lack of an e-commerce infrastructure, particularly a sound credit rating system, non-obvious advantages of cyber ticket purchase, systematic obstacle like lack of invoice and interest combatants from all directions is holding back the growth of e-ticketing in China. The good news is that those problems has been paid much attention and is to be solved one by one. One of effective example is the trial of invoice for payment and reimbursement of e-ticket from June 1 issued by China's civil aviation authorities.[Details] |
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| Swift fish Survive, Sluggish fish Lost |
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Feeling the lure of the e-ticket market, each combatant is going into action. This includes traditional travel sites like Elong and Ctrip as well as new dark horse entrants like HuaXun ChinaDotMan.A professor at the civil aviation management college pointed out that China's e-ticket market is quickly developing and that 2004's 6.7% coverage rate shows that no strong players have yet to form in the market. “Swift fish eat the sluggish fish” will be the principle of survival in this market.[Details] |
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| The prospect is bright, whereas the road ahead is tortuous |
| The development of E-ticket in China face a lot of obstacles, therefore it still has a tortuous way to go and may suffer some unpleasant setbacks. Despite those obstacles, the new system is still promising and inevitable for local airlines and ticket agencies, because it represents the trend within the industry, and resisting it would result in heavy costs.[Details] |
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