Indian carriers save Rs 15 crore by e-ticketing

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Within a week of shifting from carbonised air-tickets to e-tickets, the Indian air carriers have managed to save an estimated Rs 15 crore, providing them a way to cut costs after the rise in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices. 

“The airline companies in India have managed to save around Rs 15 crore within a week of shifting from normal paper ticket to e-ticket,” claimed Bruce Hanna, India head of Galileo Global Distribution System (GDS). 

Galileo GDS, the first company to launch e-ticketing in India, provides global distribution services to the travel industry. About 71 airlines, operating on 100 percent e-ticketing, are associated with it. 

Of Rs 15 crore, Indian airline companies using Galileo GDS managed to save estimated Rs 6 crore, he claimed. 

The IATA had asked for mandatory shift over to e-tickets globally by the airlines the world over, including in India from June 1. They were expected to issue only paperless tickets for travel worldwide. 

According to the IATA, 97 percent of ticketing in India is done electronically. Some of the top airlines which have achieved total eticketing are Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher and JetLite, etc. Also, low cost carriers are taking the e-ticketing route to cut their costs. 

The airline industry is expected to save $3 billion annually by the switchover, as issuing an e-ticket will cost $1 instead of $10 on an average, and thus help airlines cut costs. They are facing tough times with the rise in ATF prises due to rise in price of oil to $139 in the international markets. 

For a passenger, there are many advantages of receiving and printing tickets electronically. One of the biggest is the trouble avoided when one is lost. In the era of foil tickets, domestic travellers did not get any refund, instead they had to pay the full amount to carry on with their journey. 

And if one lost an international ticket, getting a new ticket issued against a kind of indemnity bond was so complicated a procedure that by the time the traveller had gone through it, he would often lose the urge to travel. 

But, now one will no longer have to worry about the loss of the ticket. All one needs to do is to remember the PNR number, which many airlines SMS. This is a huge advantage when travelling with say a family of four or five members. 

Instead of carrying and keeping track of five ticket foils, all one has to carry one single sheet of paper with each member’s travel details on it. If the paper is lost, it only means another print out and no additional charges. 

Similarly, if someone had a ticket for say five sectors but does not use one, getting a refund will be that much easier and quicker.

Source: Agencies