Online airline ticketing is growing up

Since online transactions touched airline area major international airlines predict stronger growth in Internet bookings. In order to respond to customers' demands in booking and paying for their tickets via the Internet airline companies offer online transaction services. And this issue becomes more relevant than ever before especially for Asia and Pacific regions. 

According to Nenita Dy, manager for marketing communications and services in the Philippines, Singapore Airlines observed growth in customer bookings via the Internet at between 2 percent and 5 percent every year.

The increase in Internet bookings is observed even in the countries where the penetration of computers is considered rather low like in Philippines. As Robert Diaz de Rivera, senior associate vice president for PAL's (pioneering flag carrier Philippine Airlines) Corporate e-business noted that for the last three years PAL's Internet sales grew by an average of 90 percent. In fact most airlines who use the Internet as sales channel experience continuous growth. 

It is obvious that major airlines strategy is to offer the utmost convenience to its passengers, whether booking online or via their travel agent. 

However, PAL's online booking provides customers who use credit cards so-called "calendar shopping", where online customers are able to see the lowest fare available not only on the preferred travel date but also three days before and after, or range of seven days. So it is the first local airline to offer such online facility. 

It is predicted that a faster-paced growth in Internet bookings in Asia is to continue. And all the airlines admit that they can no longer ignore the growing demand for online travel bookings.