Paper airline tickets to end in 2008

The global airlines body IATA has placed its last order for paper tickets, clearing the way for air travel to be based entirely on electronic ticketing from June 1 next year.

"In just 278 more days, the paper ticket will become a collector's item," International Air Transport Association (IATA) director-general Giovanni Bisignani said.

The changeover from paper would not only cut airlines' costs by $US9 ($A11) for every traveller but would also mean the industry - criticised by environmentalists for its part in global warming - would save 50,000 mature trees a year, he added.

Bisignani did not say whether the $US9 ($A11) in cost savings would or should be passed on to passengers.

Based in Geneva, IATA represents more than 240 airlines which operate 94 per cent of scheduled international flights.

Non-IATA airlines, mainly low-cost carriers like the Irish Ryanair and the British Easyjet, already have a paper-free ticket system where travellers are registered in computers and present only an identity document at check-in.

IATA launched its drive for so called "e-ticketing" just over three years ago and now 84 per cent of travellers on IATA carriers fly without paper tickets.

The airlines body says China, one of the fastest-growing markets for air travel and host to next year's Olympic Games, is heading to be the first country in the world to operate an entirely paper-free ticketing system by the end of this year.

Peter

The changeover from paper would not only cut airlines' costs by $US9 ($A11) for every traveller but would also mean the industry - criticised by environmentalists for its part in global warming - would save 50,000 mature trees a year, he added.

So are they going to tell people not to print out their E-Ticket info?

The changeover from paper would not only cut airlines' costs by $US9 ($A11) for every traveller but would also mean the industry - criticised by environmentalists for its part in global warming - would save 50,000 mature trees a year, he added.

So are they going to tell people not to print out their E-Ticket info?

The environmentalist want people to use less toilet paper too, so I'm guessing yes.

The changeover from paper would not only cut airlines' costs by $US9 ($A11) for every traveller but would also mean the industry - criticised by environmentalists for its part in global warming - would save 50,000 mature trees a year, he added.

So are they going to tell people not to print out their E-Ticket info?

Perhaps a 1 page printed e-ticket costs a lot less than a multi-page/copy voucher from the airlines or agents. I am sure it doesn't cost $11.

Gimme a break!

The changeover from paper would not only cut airlines' costs by $US9 ($A11) for every traveller but would also mean the industry - criticised by environmentalists for its part in global warming - would save 50,000 mature trees a year, he added.

So are they going to tell people not to print out their E-Ticket info?

Perhaps a 1 page printed e-ticket costs a lot less than a multi-page/copy voucher from the airlines or agents. I am sure it doesn't cost $11.

Gimme a break!

That's cost, not volume of paper.

I wonder if anyone has told Mumbai airport. E tickets are not an option, even flying Thai from BKK I have to get an old fashoned paper ticket

The cost savings isn't in the paper, but in the cost of passing all those little slips of paper around, so everybody in the chain gets credited. Much cheaper to do it with computer entries.