Thai Airways International Public Company Limited confirmed it will implement Electronic ticketing for all its flights from 1 June, 2008 in accordance with International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations.

THAI also confirmed that paper tickets that have already been issued can still be used until the expiry date of the ticket.

In addition, paper tickets will be issued for flights involving travelling with an airline that does not have E ticketing. However, IATA’s stated aim has been to have 100 percent       E- ticketing for all its members by 1 June, 2008.

Mr. Pandit Chanapai, THAI’s Executive Vice President, Commercial said, “E-ticket is a more efficient way of ticketing for passengers and airlines alike. It reduces the risk of losing tickets, theft, counterfeit paper tickets, makes itinerary changes easier and enables a wide array of self service options.”

According to IATA, E-ticketing is the flagship project of IATA’s Simplifying the Busines programme, which is aimed at making travel more convenient and cost efficient. While a paper ticket costs US$10 to process, e-ticketing reduces that cost to US$1. The industry will save over US$3 billion each year by offering the passenger a better service.

When the programme began in June 2004, only 18% of tickets issued globally were e-tickets, with over 28 million paper tickets issued each month. That number has been   reduced to less than 3 million.

For more details please contact THAI’s 24hrs. Contact Center at tel. 0-2356-1111 or visit www.thaiairways.com

Notes:
- IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents over 240 airlines comprising 94% of international scheduled air traffic. 
- In 2004 some 69 airlines, comprising 56% of ticketing volumes were ET enabled. As at the end of January 2007, 269 airlines comprising 99.7% of ticket volumes were issuing electronic tickets.