Air Namibia ahead of e-ticketing schedule

Air Namibia is ahead of schedule with the project to convert to 100% electronic tickets (e-tickets). The troubled national airline began issuing e-tickets in January this year.
E-ticketing is a method to document the sale and track the usage of the transportation of a passenger without requiring the issuance of a paper value document. Instead of the normal carbon paper ticket, there is now an enhanced electronic record keeping, facilitated by the application of existing technology and supported by a valid business case.

Air Namibia started issuing E-ticketing on the Eros-Ondangwa route. The route between Windhoek and Luanda followed in May, with the Windhoek/Frankfurt route in July. The Windhoek to London-Gatwick route was converted to e-tickets during the first week of August. Xavier Masule, E-Ticketing project team leader at Air Namibia, had earlier told the Economist that the roll-out plan indicated that about 70% of the route network would be e-ticketing enabled by August. These routes included flights to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Oranjemund. The remaining 30% of the Air Namibia's route network is to be e-ticketing enabled by the end of this month. African airlines are under pressure from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which has put up 31 December 2007 as the deadline for airlines to make the transition to 100% electronic ticketing.

Earlier statistics from IATA indicates that almost 90% of all the E-tickets issued in Africa are being issued by South African Airways and the Kenyan Airways. To help the African airlines meet the deadline, IATA has committed itself to help these airlines with the transition. Air Botswana is the first African country scheduled for such help. Air Namibia says it is ready to help other African airlines because it has gained enough experience in the project. If an airline fails to meet the deadline, it will “lose access to a network of over 60000 IATA accredited travel agents and will have to produce and distribute their own paper tickets at an astronomical cost,” said IATA. Further, revenues generated through interline agreements with other carriers that no longer process paper will fall dramatically.

Air Namibia electronic tickets can be purchased from Air Namibia ticketing offices and from IATA BSP travel agencies who use the Amadeus and Galileo Global Distribution Systems in various markets across the world. E-tickets sold to-date are for Air Namibia operated flights only, as no “Interline” Electronic Ticketing Agreements have been concluded yet. When buying an electronic ticket, the passenger will not be issued with a paper ticket, but will be provided with an “itinerary receipt” as proof having purchased an ET, and this receipt will give a summary of ticket details such as passenger name, date of travel, destination and other notices. Electronic ticketing offers the option to send the itinerary receipt as fax or e-mail to the passenger.