Budget airlines report record numbers

Many airlines have reported record numbers boarding their aircraft in last month. easyJet, Europe’s second-largest budget airline, reported a 17% growth in passengers to 3.7 million.

Aer Lingus, the privatised Irish airline, announced a 10% increase and a particularly strong performance in long-haul.

MaxJet, one of the trio of business-class only start-up airlines flying from London to America, said it carried 7,580 passengers last month, 72% more than in the same month in 2006.

Further news is that airlines are to abandon paper tickets from June 1 2008. The move will reduce costs by about £5 per traveller when electronic ticketing takes over. It follows a decision by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to place its final order for paper tickets.

International Air Transport Association, based in Geneva represents more than 240 airlines which operate 94% of scheduled international flights. It started its campaign for ‘eticketing’ in 2004 and now 80% of travellers on its carriers fly without paper tickets. Low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and Easyjet are already paper-free whereas British Airways has nearly moved entirely to electronic tickets.

Travellers are registered on computers and have to present only a document confirming their identity when they check-in.

China is on schedule to be the first country to operate an electronic ticketing system by the end of 2007.

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