 Indian ties up with Galileo for e-tickets
 Galileo India, the leading global distribution service provider (GDS), has announced its e-ticketing services for Indian's domestic sector.
Galileo users can now issue e-tickets for domestic travel for flights departing from 11 cities (Chennai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad,
Nagpur, Pune, Goa and Bhuvaneshwar) to the six Indian metros (Chennai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and
Mumbai).
Vishwapati Trivedi, CMD, Indian, said, in Chennai, "Indian is pleased to have chosen Galileo as its major GDS partner for paperless ticketing. e-tickets in association with
Galileo will be issued for flights departing from 11 cities to the six metros. This initiative will not only help us simplify the business but will also result in extra convenience to
passengers."
Bruce Hanna, COO, Galileo India, who was also present at the launch in Chennai, said: "e-ticketing initiative will help travel agents enhance efficiency and
productivity, as it will cut down ticketing requirements and consequently printing of flight coupons. Travel agents can focus on their core competency-travel
consultancy and research, rather than issuing and delivering tickets."
"e-ticketing will also eradicate ticket fraud and revenue leakage through automation of check in and ticket change control and the purging of lost and stolen tickets",
Hanna added.
e-ticketing is a way of documenting a sale, both for the passenger and the airline. But rather than paper, the process uses a database to track the sale and use of tickets
with the database stored and updated by the validating airline. All subsequent transactions including refunds, exchanges, check-in, void and settlement are in the holding
database. The benefits of e-ticketing also include faster realisation of funds for the airline, Trivedi said.
Currently, Indian flies to 54 domestic and 18 international destinations in the Gulf and South-East Asia, with a fleet of 74 aircraft. The airline has placed an order for 43 brand
new aircraft of the Airbus family, the first of which, an A319, has already joined the fleet.
 Anita Khurana, Director, Commercial, Indian, said the company e-ticketing will cover the entire network by March this year. Over 2,000 agents would be brought into the
e-ticketing fold in a phased manner, she added.
Indian has also adopted the GDS and commenced the sale of domestic segments through the GDS service providers, including Galileo. Also on the anvil is the introduction
of a state-of-the-art Passenger Services System which will give customers a host of benefits like web check-in, self-service check-in kiosks and special
service to passengers with special needs, Anita said.
To attract foreign tourists and NRls, Indian has done away with the dual pricing policy for tickets sold in India, whereby they can now purchase tickets in India in INR fares.
Other recent initiatives include the launch of the co-branded Indian Platinum Credit Card, the only card that offers a 20% cash back reward, attractive fares like Spot Fares
and fun-filled holiday packages to many popular new destinations. All this has led to the airline registering the highest ever carriage in recent times. In December 2006,
Indian carried an all-time record 8.37 lakh passengers. Its international carriage also registered a quantum increase to 2.11 lakh during the month, Trivedi said.
R Rangaraj
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