China's civil aviation authorities announced yesterday that invoices for payment and reimbursement of e-tickets will be trialed from June 1.

For a long time e-ticket sales have been hindered in China because there were no invoices available for reimbursement.

Official statistics show only 20 per cent of air tickets are sold in the form of e-tickets in China.

To make air ticket purchasing more convenient for Chinese passengers and to cut costs, CAAC decided to support the development of e-tickets in the industry.

CAAC and the State Administration of Taxation together issued a notice to carry out a two-year trial of providing invoices for e-ticket purchases to allow for reimbursement.

The invoices will be manufactured under the supervision of the State Administration of Taxation.

Passengers who purchase e-tickets can get their invoices at the airport or from the air ticket agency.

By doing it this way, the civil aviation administration expects the number of e-tickets sold to account for at least half of the total air tickets sold in 2007.

Airlines have been giving customers payment vouchers they made themselves as a kind of substitute invoice.

However, it has not removed the worries of many passengers who need an invoice to get reimbursed.

Now with the new invoice, the substitute payment vouchers designed by various airlines will be annulled, according to the notice.

The International Air Transport Association will stop all its ticket agencies from selling the traditional paper tickets this October in all its member states, including China, this October.

(China Daily April 14, 2006)