Abacus International has launched electronic ticketing for China Southern Airlines outside the People’s Republic of China.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.

As at August 2007, electronic tickets accounted 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 of 100% eTicketing for the industry by May 2008, 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 are 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 reissuance of misplaced printed tickets.
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