Newstrack

BCBP to be in place by year end: IATA

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

Sunil Chopra India manager, IATA

After scheduling e-ticketing (ET) to be in place by May 2008, IATA is keen on having Bar Coded Boarding Passes (BCBP) by the end of this year. The BCBPs will be of two-dimensional technology with larger capacity to consume data and be read by bar code readers placed at the airports so as to issue a single boarding pass for all routes (in case of multiple stopovers).

Speaking to Express AviationWorld, Sunil Chopra, India manager, IATA said, "By the end of this year, airlines and airports will be mandated to be BCBP-ready. Besides offering convenience to the passengers, alliances will also take advantage of this move." According to him, the new Bangalore and Hyderabad airports will have such readers in place when they are open, with the Mumbai and Delhi airports following suit in the next few months.

"For the customer, the BCBP can be printed at home and as we move towards the future, the bar code will also be available on mobile which can be scanned through CUSS, which would be largely provided by airports. This will lead to increased efficiency and service," mentioned Chopra.

As per IATA's statistics, BCBP will lead to 80 per cent reduction in paper costs, 40 per cent reduction in equipment replacement costs and also reduction in airport staff. In addition, the average industry saving would be US$ 3.58 per home check-in and a 20 per cent market penetration will generate US$ 0.5 billion in annual industry savings.