The Latvian national airline airBaltic completed the introduction of E-tickets. From now on, all passengers will be able to board their flights without a paper ticket, not only to direct destinations served by airBaltic, but also on an increasing number of connections.

For example, until recently, if a passenger was travelling from Riga to Reykjavik via Copenhagen and bought a ticket at www.airbaltic.com, a paper ticket for the flight from Copenhagen to Reykjavik still had to be collected at an airBaltic office. That is no longer necessary, and when adoption of E-ticketing becomes mandatory for all airlines from May 31 of this year, it is thought that 50,000 trees a year will be saved.

E-Tickets are just the latest in a long line of airBaltic technological innovations. Last year the airline introduced a Web-based check-in service which saves passengers time in that they can avoid airport queues. The Web can also be used to rent cars, book hotels and purchase travel insurance − all on the airline’s Web site. In 2007, the sales of tickets via www.airbaltic.com accounted for almost half of total airBaltic ticket sales.