Airlines 'should apply online system'<\/p>\n
Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
In an era where a country's development is increasingly measured
\nby its bandwidth per capita, real-time connectivity is what
\nconsumers now demand.<\/p>\n
\"I am a middle-class business traveler, without the privilege
\nof a secretary to take care of my air tickets,\" said 28-year-old
\nAhmad Bardi, a processed-food exporter with a small manufacturing
\nplant in Depok, some 20 kilometers south of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
At present, he has to take care of all the mundane details of
\nhis travel across the region to expand his market, which also
\nmeans booking airplane seats.<\/p>\n
\"OK, there are by-phone ticket reservations, but I think we
\nhave to move beyond that in this 'dot-com' era,\" he said. \"It
\nwould be very pleasant if we can book tickets with a single click
\non our laptops.\"<\/p>\n
In the Asia-Pacific region, airline tickets are among the top
\nfour items purchased by Internet shoppers. Some 25 percent of
\nmore than 7,000 people with Internet access surveyed by market
\nresearch firm AC Nielsen said that they have bought airline
\ntickets online at least once.<\/p>\n
\"It is a common service provided by most airlines in the
\nregion,\" said AC Nielsen researcher Catherine Eddy.<\/p>\n
While frequent flyers in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore --
\nas well as all the developed countries -- can enjoy real-time
\nconnectivity, Bardi and other local flyers will have to wait a
\nlittle longer.<\/p>\n
\"Even the country's largest airline company, Garuda Indonesia,
\ndoes not have such a system,\" Catherine lamented.<\/p>\n
The same survey, with 500 Indonesian respondents, revealed
\nthat only 15 percent of local online shoppers had purchased
\ntickets via the Internet.<\/p>\n
Currently, Indonesia has a very low information and
\ncommunication technology (ICT) penetration ratio -- 2 percent --
\nmeaning that only 4.4 million of some 220 million Indonesians use
\nthe Internet.<\/p>\n
As of September, only two Indonesian airlines -- Merpati and
\nAwair -- integrate online ticket reservation systems into their
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
Two other airlines that operate here, AdamAir and Air
\nParadise, have announced that they would provide online flight
\nbooking but have not begun the system.<\/p>\n
\"Airlines have to realize that sooner or later they will have
\nto provide online reservation services for the convenience of
\ntheir frequent flyers, especially if they want to compete
\nregionally,\" Catherine asserted.<\/p>\n
According to the National Research Institute's information
\ntechnology department, setting up e-commerce would benefit
\ncompanies as they could increase revenue.<\/p>\n
The system would also provide efficiency through real-time
\nelectronic transfer payments, as well as reduce paperwork.<\/p>\n
\"For airlines, online reservation systems work to their full
\nbenefit as customers have paid ahead of time while the airlines
\nthemselves have less tickets to issue,\" added Catherine.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/airlines-should-apply-online-system-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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