Check-in is set to be simplified as paper tickets give way entirely to electronic tickets, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The airline trade organisation said yesterday that almost half of the tickets currently issued to travellers are electronic, or e-tickets, and that they would entirely replace paper tickets by 2007.
The electronic system eliminates problems that the traveller might experience if they lose a paper ticket.
Furthermore, it allows for extra services such as online check-in, a facility that has been rapidly growing in popularity across UK airlines in recent months and which is used by bmibaby, Ryanair and others.
Now the IATA has indicated that it will penalise member airlines that do not introduce e-tickets by the end of 2007. Phasing out paper tickets could save the airline industry more than $3 billion a year, because printing tickets is so much more expensive.
IATA chairman Robert Milton said: "The real challenge is to accelerate the pace of implementation to meet the targets of 70 per cent use in 2006 and 100 per cent by the end of 2007."