Vietnam’s two air carriers, Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines, are set to start sales of electronic tickets in the third quarter of this year.
The move follows plans by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to finalize e-ticketing implementation by December 31, 2007.
As of 2008, paper tickets will no longer exist within the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), under the IATA sales network.
According to Vietnam Airlines, 10 out of its 100 partners have already requested to be able to trade in e-tickets issued within the Interline system, which allows customers to buy tickets more easily while traveling.
Vietnam Airlines would incur additional expenses if it continued to use paper tickets, and trade cooperation with its partners would be badly affected. Analysts have said that Vietnam Airlines may lose 50 per cent of its total revenue from international markets if it does not take immediate steps to sell e-tickets under the BSP.
Head of Vietnam Airlines' Marketing Division Trinh Hong Quang said that as scheduled, Vietnam Airlines would begin selling e-tickets for some flights on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route during the third quarter of 2006, and then for flights linking Hanoi and Danang by the end of the year.
He said that the sale of e-tickets for international flights would begin in early 2007.
E-tickets will account for 5.4 per cent of total tickets to be sold this year, and rise to 41 per cent in 2007. The airline estimates that it could save around US$800,000 in the first two years of e-ticket issuance or US$7 to US$9 per ticket.
Quang said that e-ticketing would be one of the two most important solutions for Vietnam Airlines to reduce airfares in the future. The carrier plans to spend some US$700,000 on the implementation of e-ticketing in 2006-2007.
Pacific Airlines, the only joint stock air carrier in Vietnam, however, has yet to announce its own e-ticketing plan.
VNA, Transport
Vietnamese
