ET goes 100%

At midnight around the world on Saturday night, travel agents will cease issuing any more neutral paper tickets. On Sunday morning, we will be at 100% ET. This has been a four year project starting at the June 2004 IATA AGM and now finishing as airline CEO’s come together for this year’s IATA AGM in Istanbul.

Valid paper tickets will still remain in the industry after 1 June:

• Any paper tickets issued prior to 1 June will still be valid for travel even after the deadline.
• Travel agents in the U.S. and many airlines around the world will continue to issue paper tickets valid for travel after 1 June.

However, we will have achieved a major milestone when IATA Travel Agents stop issuing IATA neutral paper tickets on 1 June. The ET project has been the flagship of the StB programme, offering the industry savings of US$ 3 Billion and huge benefits of convenience to passengers, agents and airlines.

Well done everyone!

The average ET use for April was 95.4% and May will certainly prove to be higher. We believe airlines’ ET capabilities will now be so high that agents rarely need to use alternatives to a paper ticket when an ET is not possible.

IATA will publish the May results next month along with detailed individual reports on airline extranet sites as usual. These will be the last ET reports from IATA. However, we will continue to issue our report showing agents’ use of Multiple Purpose Documents.

We will be available during the weekend of 31 May and 1 June to provide assistance. Any urgent matters during this time can be directed to eticket@iata.org for ET questions and support and bspsupport@iata.org for BSP questions and support. In addition, we invite you to visit IATA’s ET homepage where we will be providing updates on IATA ET services over the coming months and ET related news after 1 June.

We'd like to thank all the wonderful people we've worked with over the past four years - airlines, agencies, airports, system providers and GDSs. Together we've moved an industry from the paper age into the full electronic era! Job well done - many thanks and congratulations.

IATA ET services post 1 June

As the ET project comes to an end, some IATA ET services will no longer be available:

• The GBR Generator will be shut down on Monday 30 June. It will no longer be possible to request a GBR after this date, nor to create or edit your airline's GBR.
• The ET Matchmaker will be shut down on Friday 29 August. It will no longer be possible to request the contact information of an airline via the Matchmaker after this date. However, you will be able obtain the latest contact information of other MITA airlines on the MITA Private Site. Request access to the site here. For further questions about MITA, please contact mita@iata.org.
• The RIETA (Reduced Interline Electronic Ticketing Agreements) file including airline GBRs will no longer be available after Friday 29 August, when the last one will be sent out. After this date, the BIETA (Bilateral Interline Electronic Ticketing Agreements) file listing the latest IET agreements will be accessible online to subscribers. Annual subscriptions can be purchased here. This file is updated daily. For further questions about MITA, please contact mita@iata.org.

For any other questions about ET services, please contact eticket@iata.org.

StB Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP) takes off

As we celebrate the successful conclusion of ET, IATA’s StB programme continues to find opportunities to reduce costs and enhance customer service across the airline industry. One such opportunity is StB’s new Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP).

BIP seeks to reduce baggage mishandling and its US$3.8 billion annual industry cost. The programme will do this by identifying mishandling issues and addressing them using IATA’s baggage solutions toolkit. This will lead to a reduction in mishandling – which will also enhance customer service. In 2008, IATA will work with a small group of airlines and airports to identify and develop industry-wide solutions that address all causes of baggage mishandling.

Four airlines have already agreed to partner with us to lead this industry effort:

• Delta Air Lines
• Emirates
• LAN Chile
• Lufthansa

IATA’s baggage go-team, the people tasked with implementing BIP, is in the process of visiting each of these airlines to identify the most pressing issues to be addressed first. IATA thanks these carriers for their leadership on an issue plaguing our industry.

Russia/CIS: First to the finish in BCBP capability

Russia/CIS achieved a major milestone in the industry effort to transition to bar coded boarding passes, with all airlines in the region now BCBP capable. Bar-coded boarding passes, using IATA 2D barcodes, promise to save the industry US$ 500 million every year. With the industry target of 100% BCBP capability by the end of 2008 fast approaching, other regions are expected to follow suit.

The next step for Russia/CIS airlines is to ensure BCBP capability at airports across the region. A BCBP workshop that will help attendees do this will be held in Moscow on June 18-19. Congratulations to Russia/CIS airlines!

A BCBP/CUSS workshop that will help attendees do this will be held in Moscow on June 18-19.

Going truly paperless: airlines test out mobile barcodes

Continental Airlines and bmi are pioneering mobile phone bar-coded boarding passes in the US and the UK respectively. The two carriers are currently piloting the ability for passengers to check-in using a handheld mobile device at airports in the USA and Scotland. Eric Leopold, BCBP project manager, said, “it is a smart move and we applaud the initiative. There are a number of airlines taking advantage of mobile technology and IATA's standard for mobile bar-coded boarding passes. It will deliver to their customers another convenient check-in option while improving efficiency. And that's what simplifying the business is all about."

For more stories on this topic, visit StB News.

IATA e-freight concludes High-Level Assessments

IATA’s e-freight project continues to gain momentum. The team recently completed High-Level Assessments (HLA) of over 200 countries around the world to test regulatory and customs environments’ readiness for paper-free freight. Read the results by country.

For those countries that have passed the HLA, the next step towards becoming an e-freight location is a Detailed Level Assessment (DLA). These assessments have recently concluded, and we will be announcing the DLA results next month.

Six locations are currently e-freight locations – Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and the UK. More locations will be announced very shortly – stay tuned!

Contact us to share your comments, questions and ideas!

The StB Global Team