Vietnam's Airlines set to introduce E-Ticketing
HANOI - Local airline companies, Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines, plan to phase out paper ticketing and replace it with online electronic ticketing (e-tickets), in the third quarter of 2006.
This follows plans by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to finalise e-ticketing implementation by December 31, 2007.
As of 2008, paper tickets will no longer exist within the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), under the IATA sales network.
According to Vietnam Airlines, 10 out of its 100 partners have already requested to be able to trade in e-tickets issued within the Interline system, which allows customers to more easily buy tickets while travelling.
Vietnam Airlines would incur additional expenses if it continued to use paper tickets, and trade cooperation with its partners would be badly affected. Analysts have said that Vietnam Airlines may lose 50 per cent of its total revenue from international markets if it does not take immediate steps to sell e-tickets under the BSP.
Head of Vietnam Airlines' Marketing Division Trinh Hong Quang said that as scheduled, Vietnam Airlines would begin selling e-tickets for some flights on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route during the third quarter of 2006, and then for flights from Hanoi to Da Nang by the end of the year.
He said that the sale of e-tickets for international flights would begin in early 2007. E-tickets will account for 5.4 per cent of total tickets to be sold this year, and rise to 41 per cent in 2007. The airlines estimates that it could save some US$800,000 in the first two years of e-ticket issuance or US$7 to US$9 per ticket.
E-tickets also save time for passengers because they can book tickets and make payments via the internet instead of coming to a booking office. E-tickets have been used world-wide for the last decade.
Quang said that e-ticketing would be one of the two most important solutions for Vietnam Airlines to reduce airfares in the future.
Vietnam News Agency - August 1st, 2006
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