Emirates launches E-Ticketing in Australia and New Zealand

Emirates has introduced commercial e-ticketing in Australia and New Zealand and introduced electronic check-in at Dubai International Airport.

These developments are a major step towards seamless air travel for Emirates passengers, enabling them to save time and avoid hassle by taking advantage of electronic processes.

E-ticketing is available now to passengers in Australia and New Zealand who book seats on flights between Sydney and Auckland and Melbourne and Auckland, which started from Australia on August 2. It is available only for bookings made online, through the Emirates Call Centre or at an Emirates ticket office.

E-ticketing will also be available on the Brisbane-Auckland sector when Emirates launches its new service between Dubai, Brisbane and Auckland on October 26. It will then gradually be extended to the rest of the network.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Executive Vice-President Commercial Operations Worldwide, said: "We are delighted to introduce e-ticketing on our new routes across the Tasman. By the end of this year, we hope to have it across the network. We aim to extend it to bookings made with travel agents and to interline bookings by the end of next year.

Mr Al Ghaith added: "This, plus the introduction of e-check-in at Dubai airport, is part of our move towards seamless air travel for our passengers. We are committed to enable our passengers to use e-ticketing, e-check-in and Dubai Immigration's e-gate smart card to save our passengers hours of time. We foresee the day when our passengers will simply stroll through airport procedures to catch their flights."

E-tickets are an electronic version of a paper ticket and contain all the details that a traditional paper ticket has but without the requirement of keeping it in your back pocket.

Instead, an e-ticket holder has a receipt with all flight details and conditions of carriage. This is sent via email or fax by the airline and can be printed out by the passenger.

At check in, a passport as proof of identity and the PNR (Passenger Name Reference) number is sufficient for check-in agents to issue a boarding card, as the ticket details are held in the system. However, a receipt as proof of authority to travel will normally be required by Immigration services when the passengers go through Immigration procedures.

Leslie Trask, Emirates Vice-President Interline, said: "E-tickets are like going to the ATM. They are part of the whole ongoing process of applying electronic applications to all the things we do in daily life. They are the fastest growing facility in the industry."

E-tickets benefit the airline and the passenger. They prevent fraud, as information in the airline's system cannot be manipulated. They cut costs, as there is no paper issue. There is also no ticket delivery required for passengers booking online. E-tickets also relieve travel agents of hassle. "They increase productivity, save costs, and are easy to use, so everyone wins," said Ms Trask.

Emirates chose the Trans-Tasman routes to launch commercial e-ticketing because those flights link Australia and New Zealand, two e-ticket-mature markets.

Emirates has been testing e-ticketing for the past two years with staff travel. "That gave us a wonderful opportunity to work everything out and ensure we were doing it right with everyone involved contributing ideas," said Ms Trask. 

The airline has also introduced self check-in kiosks in the Economy and First and Business check-in areas at Dubai International Airport. At present, these can be used for Skywards members only but, eventually, all passengers with hang baggage only will be able to use them.

Dubai Immigration launched its e-gate smart card last year, it enables passengers arriving in Dubai to avoid queuing at Immigration desks.