Ninety percent of all tickets issued worldwide through the Sabre GDS (global distribution system) are now electronic, up from 80 percent in June 2006. And 161 airlines have implemented e-ticketing in Sabre, up from 122 eight months ago.

Condor, Corsair, Ethiopian Airlines, KD Avia, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Olt-Ostfriesische Lufft and Royal Jordanian have become the latest carriers to implement e-ticketing through the Sabre GDS.

IATA's 'Simplifying the Business' strategy calls for 100 percent e-ticketing by the end of 2007. To date Sabre Travel Network is IATA approved to issue e-tickets in 77 countries, including 33 in the EMEA area, with Yemen the latest to be added.

While 161 airlines worldwide offer e-ticketing through the Sabre GDS, its sister company Sabre Airline Solutions is working closely with many airlines to ensure they will be compliant with IATA's December deadline. It offers an e-ticketing enabling product for airlines called SabreSonic Ticket that lets an airline distribute electronic tickets both through its own sales channels and through travel agencies, check-in passengers with electronic tickets, and issue interline electronic tickets (IETs).

92 airlines are using the SabreSonic Ticket interline e-ticket (IET) 'hub' to facilitate e-ticketing with other participating carriers without having to create bilateral agreements and a special connection.

IET hub-connected carriers include British Airways, KLM, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, American Airlines, United, US Airways and Northwest Airlines.

Any airline can use the IET hub, regardless of where its reservation system is hosted. Last year, the company announced a technical development with Worldspan, giving carriers who use the IET hub a single connection to those who use the Worldspan hub. This arrangement eliminates the need for complex, distinct communication 'layers' between airlines that use the two hubs.

"It's unlikely that every airline around the world will comply entirely with IATA's December deadline for the complete withdrawal of paper ticketing," said Richard Adams, Sabre Travel Network's European senior vice-president. "It does appear, though, that the airlines who sell most of the world's air travel will be compliant by the due date, and our figures show that our travel agency customers have seized on the e-ticketing capability of every airline that has implemented eticketing."