SMS ticketing system for airlines on cards
Sagar Malviya & Neelasri Barman
The Financial Express, October 11, 2005

Mumbai – With rising fuel prices, airline companies are looking at all means to cut operating costs, including costs of ticketing. The option now being considered is SMS ticketing through cell phones. Top players including Air-India, Air Deccan and Jet Airways are holding talks with service providers to facilitate SMS ticketing system while Air Deccan is on the verge of launching it.

Air Deccan Chief Information Officer Arvind Saksena confirms,”We will be launching this new ticketing model next month and have already tied up with ACL Wireless.” Commenting on this initiative, Air-India spokesperson said, “We will be launching the service in the next 3-4 months provided the infrastructure is in place”.

Web-based ticketing as well as booking tickets over SMS is a cost cutting tool.

However, the absence of web literacy as compared to penetration of cell phones to 70 million people has driven the airlines towards the introduction of this service.

Currently, it is possible to enquire about ticket availability using text messages, but not possible to book tickets.

Hutch Corporate VP (Group Marketing) Naveen Chopra believes that this model can work if right technology is devised. “It may not catch up initially but it will be popularly used if it is made user friendly.”