Effective June 1, 2008, Thai Airways International will make electronic ticketing available for all its flights, in accordance with International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations.
Thai Airways confirmed that paper tickets that have already been issued can still be used until the expiration date of the ticket. In addition, paper tickets will be issued for flights involving traveling with an airline that does not have E-ticketing.
“E-ticket is a more efficient way of ticketing for passengers and airlines alike,” said Mr. Pandit Chanapai, Thai’s Executive Vice President, Commercial. “It reduces the risk of losing tickets, theft, counterfeit paper tickets, makes itinerary changes easier and enables a wide array of self-service options.”
Making electronic tickets the standard ticketing distribution method also comes with environmentally-friendly and cost-saving benefits. With more tickets produced electronically, less paper will be used to print and mail paper tickets. A paper ticket costs $10 to process while e-ticketing reduces that cost to $1. The airline industry will save more than $3 billion USD each year while offering passengers better service.
E-ticketing is the flagship project of IATA’s “Simplifying the Business” program, which seeks to make travel more convenient and cost efficient. When the program began in June 2004, only 18% of tickets issued globally were e-tickets, with over 28 million paper tickets issued every month. Since then, the number has been reduced to less than 3 million.
The IATA represents more than 240 airlines comprising 94% of international scheduled air traffic.
