Chinese travelers will have more access to electronic air tickets as five new domestic carriers begin cooperation with Galileo International.

They are the China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

Galileo is the first global travel technology solutions provider to provide e-ticketing services for Shanghai and Xiamen airlines.

The Galileo global distribution system has generated more than 27 million e-tickets, accounting for almost three out of every four tickets issued. This has saved more than 5.7 hectares of forest per month.

Domestic airlines' enthusiasm for e-ticketing came after the China Air Transport Association stopped providing paper flight tickets in October, 2006, as a response to the call by the International Air Transport Association to popularize electronic air tickets in China.

IATA launched its drive for e-ticketing more than three years ago and now 84 percent of travelers on IATA carriers fly without paper tickets.

The agency said that China, the host of 2008 Olympic Games and a rapidly expanding air-travel market of the world, is likely to become the first country to completely operate on a paper-free ticketing system by the end of this year.

(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2007)