The Ethiopian Airlines (EAL) on Tuesday announced the launching of electronic tickets (e- tickets) on the Addis Ababa-Nairobi-Addis Ababa sector.

EAL said in a statement that through the new ticketing system, all the details of the ticket are stored in the airline's computer system and the customer will be given specific information on paper, including an itinerary and a receipt.

E-ticketing is a method to document the sale and track usage of passenger transportation and related services without issuing paper value documents.

"E-ticketing will be available at EAL offices in Addis Ababa and Nairobi and afterwards the service will be extended to travel agents and interline partner airlines in both cities," it said.

"When buying an electronic ticket, a confirmation number is assigned to each passenger along with flight numbers, dates, departure, and destination locations," the statement said.

"All that the customer needs to present at the airport is a valid positive identification and a boarding pass will be issued, luggage is checked and then it is time for the passengers to proceed through security to their gate areas."

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), governing body of the travel industry, decided at its 60th annual general meeting, held in June 2004 in Singapore, that all ticketing transactions will be electronic as of Dec. 31, 2007.

According to IATA, e-ticketing will eliminate loss of tickets, make re-issue and re-fund easier and enable the passenger to simply rebook from a flight of one airline to a service operated by another without having a paper ticket.

The Ethiopian Airlines is a major international air carrier and the largest African Airline. It offers convenient service from the United States, Europe and Asia.

It provides domestic and international air service between Ethiopia and other countries. It has a good safety record and is one of the few profitable African airlines. It also provides training and maintenance to more than a dozen African and middle eastern airlines.

Source: Xinhua