Moscow, Russia / Amsterdam, The Netherlands - ChronoPay announced that it successfully has launched the first e-ticketing platform for the airline industry in Russia. This solution will be offered under the brand name “E-avia”. 3 of Russia’s 10 largest airlines are already in the final stage of integration with this platform.

The decision to develop the e-ticketing platform E- avia is not only the result of declining growth rates of electronic trade in Russia, but also international legislation requires Russians airlines adapt. In recent years, the travel industry has seen a huge switch from paper tickets to electronic tickets. The industry organisation IATA has decided that the whole airline industry should switch to e-tickets by the end of May 2008. The changeover will mean changes for travel agencies and travellers alike. The Russian aviation industry was lacking behind in regards to these requirements.

The operating principle of E-avia is both simple as complex. A passenger, visiting the website of the airline – a partner of E-avia - inquires for availability and costs of a particular flight. When a preferred flight has been selected and confirmed, the passenger presses the “to pay” button. For the realization of the payment ChronoPay delivers the payment gateway and supports 158 currencies and popular payment methods, including local Russian and European payment methods. The passenger will be able to print its e-ticket.

“The advantage for passengers is that e-tickets link electronically the flight to the right person, for example through their credit card. This removes the need for the ticket to be posted out and the risk of leaving the tickets behind. Flexibility and simplicity are increased, since travellers no longer need to visit a ticket office to have new tickets printed out after amending a booking,” said Igor Zvorykin, Vice President of ChronoPay. “E-avia has also been designed with consideration for passenger safety and integrity, for example handling credit card information by concealing everything but the last four digits in the system. This reduces the risk that the information may fall into the wrong hands.”

Igor Zvorykin, Vice President of ChronoPay, emphasized that the electronic airline tickets were officially launched in Russia by the Minister of Transport Igor Levitin already during January this year, and the absence of the worthy system of Internet- payments remained last problem in the path of their propagation.

The Director of the Russian Tourism Board Sergey Shpilko noted that he hopes that the e-ticket platform E-avia not only will ensure the proper concern for the passenegers, but also will reveal new possibilities for the entire Russian tourist business as a whole.

For more information about E-avia please visit: http://www.e-avia.com. The website is currently only available in Russian.