Abacus to launch e-Ticketing with China Southern Airlines

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Abacus International , Asia's leading travel facilitator, today announced that it was the first Global Distribution System (GDS) to launch electronic ticketing (eTicketing) with China Southern Airlines outside the People's Republic of China, effective from 10 September 2007. The implementation enables Abacus' travel agents in five major markets namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia to issue electronic tickets on China Southern Airlines. Plans are already in place to implement in the other markets.

 

Abacus International Vice President of Airline Marketing and North Asia, Mr Patrick Lai said, "Abacus is proud to be the first GDS to enable eTicketing on China Southern Airlines in those markets. This would help the airline to reduce their ticketing costs, improve passengers' convenience and extend their reach on the Abacus network as we work towards achieving International Air Transport Association (IATA)'s target of 100% eTicketing for the industry by May 2008."

 

As at August 2007, electronic tickets account for more than 76% of all tickets issued by Abacus, and this is expected to rise in the coming months as more airlines step up to meet IATA's dateline as part of its "Simplifying the Business" initiatives to increase efficiency and generate industry savings of US$6.5 billion every year. With China Southern Airlines on board, more than 98% of all Abacus tickets is now ET-ready.

 

China Southern Airlines' Director of E-commerce, Mr. Gan Jiang said, "We are delighted to engage Abacus as our first GDS partner for eTicketing in those markets. The smooth cutover with Abacus is a significant first step towards increasing our eTicketing penetration in the drive to reduce costs and improve efficiency." 

E-Ticketing is a real-time paperless method for airlines and travel agents to issue tickets. Individual ticket information is stored within the airline's reservation system and can be retrieved and processed electronically, reducing the amount of paper ticket inventory and hassle in re-issuance of misplaced printed tickets.

 

Sourced From: ICPAR