Huge push for e-tickets

Chinese travelers will have more access to electronic air tickets as five new domestic carriers begin cooperation with Galileo International.

They are the China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

Galileo is the first global travel technology solutions provider to provide e-ticketing services for Shanghai and Xiamen airlines.

The Galileo global distribution system has generated more than 27 million e-tickets, accounting for almost three out of every four tickets issued. This has saved more than 5.7 hectares of forest a month.

Domestic airlines’ enthusiasm for e-ticketing came after the China Air Transport Association stopped providing paper flight tickets in October, 2006.

The agency said that China is likely to become the first country to completely operate on a paper-free ticketing system by the end of this year.What is not normally mentioned is that it saves the airlines serious money (5% of the fare would not be that far off) as it allows the airlines to sever their connections with travel agents with comparative ease. Which is why airlines love it so much.