BAHRAIN International Airport is fully prepared to support airlines in implementing a global e-ticketing drive, a top official said.
It is equipping itself with necessary IT infrastructure to comply with the IATA directive to airlines to have 100 per cent e-ticketing by November next year, said Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) Assistant Under-Secretary Ahmed Nemat Ali. “Under directives of Deputy Prime Minister and Transportation Minister Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the CAA is continuously implementing latest developments in the air transport industry,” he told an IATA-supported seminar recently.
The transfer from the present system using paper tickets to the e-ticketing will create many challenges for civil aviation authorities and airports around the world, said Ali.
“The main challenge lies in training airport security and ground handling staff to become familiar with the new system to meet inter-national security standards,” he noted. “They should also be trained to deal with problems caused by passengers arriving late to check in or those denied boarding due to overbooking. We are therefore looking forward to the support of both IATA and Association of Bahrain Travel and Tours Agents (Abtta) to help us overcome these challenges.”
The rapid growth in the numbers of passengers and aircraft as well as the increasing volume of air cargo place greater demands on the need to provide both robust security procedures and meet stringent aviation safety requirements, said Ali.