IATA: US$18.1 BLN CAN BE SAVE ANNUALLY UNDER SIMPLIFYING THE BUSINESS PROGRAMME

From Nor Baizura Basri

GENEVA, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- About US$18.1 billion (US$1=RM3.10) can be saved
annually under the International Airport Transport Association's (IATA)
Simplifying the Business (StB) programme as airlines move towards efficiency in
operation and at the same time deliver best services to the customers.

IATA senior vice president for industry distribution and financial services,
Aleks Popovich, said this could be achieved through bar-coded boarding passes,
paper-free air cargo, reducing mishandling, facilitating the sale and
distribution of ancillary services and making baggage rules clearer and easier
to understand.

"If we are able to achieve all these, it is US$18 billion worth of industry
benefit.

"There are still US$14.1 billion to be captured," he told journalists and
media personnel at the IATA Global Media Day, which ended yesterday.

He said the StB programme, since its inception in 2004, has remained
constant and firm in improving passenger and cargo services to the end-customer
and finding ways to save the industry money.

For example, he said, the transition from magnetic stripe boarding passes
to 2D bar-coded boarding passes (BCBP) since five years ago, has earned the
industry US$1.5 billion in savings annually.

IATA director general, Giovanni Bisignani, said the magnetic stripe boarding
passes were on their way to a history museum next to the paper ticket.

"Airlines issue over two billion boarding passes every year.

"With more and more airlines offering the possibility to receive the bar
code via a mobile device, we are well on the way to truly paperless travel," he
said, announcing 100 per cent worldwide implementation of BCBP.

The magnetic stripe boarding passes, which have been used since 1983, have
several limitations for airlines and passengers that the bar code overcome.

The passes require expensive printers located in the airport, at a check-in
desk or inside a kiosk, limiting where passengers can get their boarding passes.

BCBP is one of the key elements under IATA's StB programme, which is also
looking at ways to easier access to ancillary services, e-freight, fast travel
and easier baggage rules.

Nearly 30 airlines now offer mobile BCBP and its use is expected to grow
significantly in the short term.

IATA, established 60 years ago, represents some 230 airlines comprising 93
per cent of scheduled international air traffic.
-- BERNAMA