Romanian regular airlines will cut down their costs by over 25 million euros this year if they switch from paper to electronic tickets, considering the estimated traffic flow of 3.8 million passengers.
"Processing of a paper ticket costs up to 10 dollars, while processing of an e-ticket costs up to one dollar," stated Anca Apahidean, country manager with IATA (International Air Transport Association) for Romania and Moldova. Thus, airlines will keep the 9-dollar difference per each ticket sold, that is per each transported passenger.
In January, almost half the tickets sold were electronic ones, with the target being set at 100% e-tickets by yearend.
Given an estimated traffic flow of 3.8 million passengers this year in the case of regular airlines, the average traffic in January was of 315,000 passengers.
Of these, around 150,000 bought e-tickets, which means that regular airlines cut costs by one million euros in just one month. Costs savings amounted to an average of 250,000 euros in January last year.
The cost reduction may be even better, though, if we consider other costs, and not just the ones related to ticket printing.
Cost savings will not always translate into lower ticket prices, with companies to decide in this respect. Still, a certain price decrease could be noticed lately.
However, there are further benefits customers can enjoy when it comes to e-tickets.
It is not only customers, but also airlines, airports, as well as travel agencies that visibly benefit from the use of e-tickets.
British Airways was the first airline to introduce e-tickets on the Romanian market, in 2002. Sales of electronic tickets have now reached 98% of the total ticket sales of this company in Romania.
Meanwhile, a rising number of operators have turned to e-tickets, with this type of tickets accounting for an incr
