Malaysia Airlines is on track to roll out electronic ticketing (eTicketing) by September this year with the completion of its customer airlines' check-in system cutover to the new SITA Departure Control System.

This allows the 15 airlines including Jet Airways, Royal Brunei and Kuwait Airways, which are served by Malaysia Airlines as the ground handling agent, to check-in eTicket passengers along with paper ticket customers.

This cutover for the customer airlines represents phase one of Malaysia Airlines' RM400 million Passenger Services System rollout to upgrade all IT infrastructure to facilitate the airline's move to the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) standard eTicketing.

eTicketing will eventually simplify traveling experience, offering customers a number of check-in options including via the internet and self-service kiosks located at the airport.

The next phase to enable Malaysia Airlines to be fully eTicketing capable involves the system cutover for its 16 domestic stations beginning with Alor Setar. The completion date is targeted for early July after which the international stations will begin their rollout and complete it by August.

"We are on track to be eTicketing capable by September 21, 2007. This move will bring many benefits to Malaysia Airlines. In addition to an initial savings of RM20 million as we replace the paper tickets, eTickets are cheaper to process, provide higher levels of customer service and are easier to sell through different channels," said Malaysia Airlines Senior General Manager Transition Management, Dr. Amin Khan.

"The teams have put in a lot of effort into making this cutover for the customer airlines a success under a very tight deadline. We received tremendous support from our colleagues, vendors and customer airlines," he added.

Work will also begin on implementing the new eTicketing platform for Malaysia Airlines' travel agents in Malaysia, and across the globe with completion targeted for early September 2007.