Electronic ticketing now accounts for 38 percent of tickets sold worldwide and the top industry body wants the 265 airlines under its wing to achieve 100 percent paperless ticketing within two years.

"The target date is a must. Every year, we are printing roughly 350 million tickets. We will not print any more paper tickets by 2007," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association.

At stake, IATA says, is a three-billion-dollar annual cost saving for the industry, while wider use of new electronic technologies for self service check-in, luggage handling and freight could offer even more in years to come.

"It's not revolutionary technology, it's not something that we have to invent, it's existing technology," Bisignani explained.

"This will save the industry 6.5 billion dollars a year, and would make the travelling experience for our passengers more pleasant," he added.

Aviation experts promise savings and improved convenience all the way down the line to the passenger.

"The arrival of the Internet booking engine was the start of the online fares revolution, but it also triggered something else, it gave self service centre stage in the travel industry," said Denis McClean, a spokesman for SITA, an IT company devoted to air transport.

In 1995, a subsidiary of the Geneva-based group began working on how to harness the Internet for airlines and canvassing customers.

British Midland (BMI) said it was interested to cut distribution costs and sell direct instead of passing through travel agents or sales offices.

"In October 1995 there was a meeting in a pub between our software development engineers and the IT people from BMI," said SITA senior vice president Richard Stokes.

"About 50,000 dollars earmarked for marketing was used to provide a budget and see what we could come up with in time for the Christmas market."

On December 11, 1995 the site was launched, offering to post tickets to passengers or make them available for collection at the terminal.

The first passenger booking a flight from Paris to London also collected a bottle of champagne.

At the time just 40 million people in the world used the Internet. Last year there were an estimated 870 million Internet users, according to the UN's International Telecommunications Union.

Bisignani admitted that some less developed areas of the world would face a tough challenge to meet the e-ticketing target.

Europe and the United States are well ahead with more than half the tickets delivered online. Meanwhile Africa is managing this year's target with 39 percent -- largely due to four airlines.

In North Asia and the Middle East the proportion drops to 11 and two percent respectively.

"While each region and each airline has its own set of challenges, none are unique and none are insurmountable," said IATA's Tom Murphy.

Despite the bullish optimism about its advantages -- 400 million travellers are expected to book online direct with airlines in 2005 -- the Internet has also changed the operating environment for established airlines.

Budget airlines like easyJet, RyanAir or Southwest in the United States were the first to rely entirely on e-ticketing, and their fresh start gave them an advantage over mainstream competitors.

"The Internet has helped drive down airlines' costs but it has also fuelled price competition, damaged yields, and exposed the weakness in legacy computer systems in supporting pricing and increasingly complex distribution channels," said SITA director Ian Ryder.

The industry is scurrying to secure other types of electronic gadgetry to speed progress -- and cut costs -- on the ground.

After the introduction of electronic check-in kiosks by some airlines, moves are now afoot to establish a common technical standard that will allow airports to install the same self-service equipment for all.

The Internet is also allowing the development of check-in from home, which is expected to emerge in 2006, according to SITA.

Passengers are promised "flash bag drops", stress-free travel and less queues on their way to their flight, while radio frequency electronic tags -- RFID -- could cut down on lost luggage.

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