"To go aboard a plane requires only an identity card" is becoming a
reality on the flights of the Shenzhen Airlines. It witnesses 50
passengers enjoy the convenience of using the electronic tickets
everyday.
Since the beginning of November, Shenzhen Airlines, Travel Sky
Technology Limited and CAAC Settlement Center have been trying
using the electronic tickets on the flights from Shenzhen to
Beijing, to Haikou and Guilin and almost 1000 passengers have been
using it up to now. Not long afterwards, this will be put into
practices on all flights departing from Shenzhen.
The electronic ticket, as introduced, is a kind of seat-booking
system in which is deposited the face information of a passenger
ticket. It's not "no-ticket" but "no paper-ticket". Such operations
as issuance, cancellation and refund of a ticket can be conducted
in the electronic ticketing system and a salesperson can screen
such information as issuance, checking up his/her name, flight
section and price of a passenger ticket at any time when
necessary.
As
informed, the tickets are all subject to the flow of electronic
settlement, which can be done without any duplicated sheets as
required by paper-tickets. Passenger can buy or re-schedule a
ticket at the airline ticketing office or by getting onto its
website. Only by showing the identity card, airport staff can get
the face information based on the passenger's name and flight
number and after verifying the card the boarding card can be
printed, with which the passenger concerned is permitted to pass
the safety check for boarding a plane.
According to the professionals, for a passenger, the electronic
ticket has overcome the shortcoming of being easily lost or
damaged. The dial-booking and website purchasing of a ticket has
reduced much intermediary handling, thus making the buying of a
ticket quicker and more convenient while the group ticketing is
even more so, thereby raising greatly the working efficiency. And
for airlines, the promotion of electronic ticket has helped save a
lot of manpower and materials. With each ticket to save around RMB
30 yuan the whole CAAC complex will be able save a cost of nearly
RMB 300 million-yuan if one seventh of the passenger tickets are
using the electronic ones instead. The CAAC will try introducing
the use of electronic tickets in three newly-added airlines for
flights on the 50 air-routes by the year 2002.
( December 4, 2001)