The Hindu Business Line : Emirates rolls out e-ticketing system

In the first phase, customers will be able to book e-tickets from Dubai to any of Emirates' 75 other destinations, as well as from another 26 cities in 19 countries, namely, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Turkey, the UK, Cyprus, Germany (Düsseldorf and Munich), Greece, India (Mumbai), Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Kenya. The other destinations on the airline's network will become e-ticket enabled over the next 12 months.

Emirates' e-tickets can currently be obtained through its own centres.

The airline's e-tickets will be available to the travel trade in the Indian subcontinent via Galileo, the reservation system for travel agents, by July 15. The same will be available to the trade in New Zealand by end-May; the US and Europe by June 15; the Far East by July 1; and Kenya by July 15.

In a year's time, the airline will make e-ticketing available worldwide through most other Global Distribution Systems (GDS) as well.

The statement, quoting the Chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, said: "E-tickets are accepted practice in many markets throughout South-East Asia, Europe and the US, but we wanted to ensure that the Emirates system enjoys smooth and trouble-free implementation across our network. We have invested five years to achieve this objective. Paperless tickets also support our environmentally responsible policies."

According to the release, the use of e-tickets would end worries about forgotten or misplaced tickets, as passenger details would be stored in the Computer Reservation System. E-tickets can also be ordered at all times, either online at www.emirates.com or through an Emirates Call Centre.

Besides, e-tickets will provide faster and more efficient check-in and other airport processes.

Emirates Airline carried 10.4 million passengers during the last financial year, an increase of almost two million passengers or 23 per cent more than the year before. The airline's profit of Dhs 1.57 billion ($429 million) was 73.5 per cent better than the previous year.

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