DUSHANBE, August 10, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The private air carrier, Soon Air, is the first in Tajikistan to introduce the electronic ticketing system, according to Somon Air’s press service.

The first five e-tickets were sold for the flight Dushanbe-Sharjah (the United Arab Emirates) and the e-ticket sale volumes are currently increasing, the press service said.

An electronic ticket or e-ticket is used to represent the purchase of a seat on a passenger airline, usually through a website or by telephone.  This form of airline ticket has rapidly replaced the old multi-layered paper tickets (from close to zero to 100% in about 10 years) and became mandatory for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) members as of June 1, 2008.  During the last few years, where paper tickets were still available, airlines frequently charged extra for issuing them. E-tickets are also available for certain entertainment venues.

Once a reservation is made, an e-ticket exists only as a digital record in the airline computer.  Customers usually print out a copy of their receipt which contains the record locator or reservation number and the e-ticket number.

Somon Air is an airline based in Dushanbe. It is Tajikistan’s first private air carrier.  Somon Air was granted an operating license and aviation operator certificate in 2006.  As of January 16, 2009, the Somon Air fleet included Boeing 737-400 (which is operated by East Air) and Boeing 737-800.