'India not yet ready for 100% e-ticketing'

MUMBAI: Travel agents in India have sought government���s intervention to stop a proposal from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to do away with physical tickets.

The Geneva-based international agency, which represents global airlines, is working on a project to implement 100% e-ticketing throughout the world from June 1. Agents in India, represented by the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), say several airlines, including the flag carrier Air India, are not ready for the move yet.

Speaking to the media on Friday, TAAI president C Venkateshwara Prasad said, ���Of the 7 to 8 million international tickets that are issued from India every year, about 20% are paper tickets because of several reasons. These could be for people travelling in groups, or infant tickets and multi-airline or multiple sector tickets. It will be impossible to issue after the implementation of e-tickets,��� Mr Prasad said. Worst hit will be carriers like Air India, which have yet to move over to the system. Agents would be forced to book complex itineraries on other carriers, he said.

Airlines say they will save millions of dollars on the cost of physical tickets by moving over to e-tickets. Within India, e-ticketing is not a major problem for domestic travel, since about 95% of the tickets issued for travel by domestic airlines are in the electronic format. Kingfisher and Indigo began their operations with 100% e-tickets. The problem is only for international tickets.

IATA issues about two million paper tickets to Indian passengers every year. Travel agents said they are not opposed to the concept of e-ticketing, because it makes bookings easier and cheaper, but not all airlines are ready for the transition. ���It does not make sense to push ahead with the plans in India, if we are not ready,��� they said.

The move to 100% e-ticketing has been deferred in the US after intervention by the government.