Electronic Flight

Anastasia Malakhova

In Russia a payment platform is being created for selling airline tickets through the internet (E-Avia), with the help of which airlines will be able to make the transition to electronic tickets (e-tickets). The move away from paper is unlikely to lead to a fall in prices, but will reflect directly on the quality of service and passenger traffic flow – both, according to analysts, should grow.

Photo: Comstock complete / Fotolink

From May 2008, in accordance with a resolution of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), e-tickets should become the sole form in the majority of countries in the world. According to IATA requirements Russia should finally move to e-tickets without use of a paper medium by the end of this year.  Otherwise, Russia’s membership in the organization will be called into question.

In leading aircraft countries the transition to e-tickets has already in fact occurred in the last 2-3 years.  According to the IATA, in 2005, the proportion of electronic tickets sold through the basic system of payments BSP was approximately 40%, in 2006 it reached 70%, by 1 July 2007 - 84%.  According to predictions, by 1 January 2008 92% of all tickets sold will be e-tickets.

However, with regard to e-ticket sales Russia still occupies one of the last places in the world.  “In the area of electronic ticket sales, we are now behind the whole world, including Africa,” said Igor Zvorykin, Vice-President of the company ChronoPay. Representatives of the travel industry also agree that Russia is lagging behind on this issue.  According to the President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Sergey Shpilko, Russia is catastrophically behind in terms of electronic commerce

The situation could change with the introduction of a system selling tickets over the internet. One of them - E-Avia – has been presented by the company ChronoPay. E-Avia allows airlines to accept online payments for e-tickets by bank cards and electronic funds. Payments can be made with 158 types of world currencies. The security system has over 200 control filters for each financial transaction, as a result of which the bulk of typical fraudulent activities will be blocked.

What risks might arise from rejecting paper tickets? According to Dmitry Belov, an expert from the Finam Center for Investments in High Technologies, there should not be any significant risks in the transition to e-tickets since the transition was worked out long ago in the West, and Russia can avoid many mistakes.  Almost everyone benefits from the extensive use of e-tickets; to begin with by reducing costs and simplifying the purchase of tickets.

According to other analysts, as well as the obvious pluses of convenience and cost reduction are a number of additional positive factors: financial reporting is simplified, registration is faster, the process of boarding a flight is speeded up, airlines will have greater freedom of maneuver, and hence a growth of passenger traffic flow may occur.  “The growth of service quality and the growth of passenger traffic flow are two major points that should follow from this transition. But the changes are unlikely to have an affect on ticket prices, usually the saving from the transition amounts to $2 a ticket.”

In September 2007 Sky Express, the first Russian budget airline, started a system to reserve and sell tickets through the internet, thanks to which it will be able to save 10-15% on operating costs.  According to company officials, around 65% of all passengers now reserve tickets directly with Sky Express, half of them do this over the internet. As a result, Sky Express spends less on personnel and service charges of third-party agents.