A passenger checks herself and her hand baggage in using a self-check-in machine at Geneva airport

Mumbai, May 25: Passengers travelling light on Jet Airways will not have to wait in long queues to check in, with the airline planning to set up kiosks that will automate the process.

The kiosks will be open only to domestic passengers carrying e-tickets and with no luggage to be checked in. Hand baggage will be allowed.

“Customers find self-service devices like bank ATMs convenient for repeat activity chores. The kiosk check-in process involves four steps and can be completed within a minute just like an ATM transaction,” said Gaurang Shetty, vice-president (marketing), Jet Airways.

The airline will introduce the facility initially at Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and then roll it out at other airports in a phased manner, Shetty added.

The kiosk check-in involves a name check and passenger identification through a valid swipe card, which could be a credit card, debit card or Jet Privilege card, followed by a PNR (passenger name record) verification.

“The process allows a passenger to select their preferred seats as the kiosk has a dedicated and direct connectivity to the airline check-in system,” said Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer, Jet Airways.

Jet will start with five kiosks, two each at Mumbai and Delhi and one at Bangalore. “Each kiosk comes at a cost of $10,000 and will provide us with both cost efficiency and competitive advantage,” Prock-Schauer said.

At the same time, the airline is pushing e-tickets, which it launched last year.

“With banking processes set to change within a month, travel agents will also be able to issue e-tickets. We have introduced the facility to coincide with that, so that 80 per cent of passengers who purchase tickets through agents can then get e-tickets and thus avail of the facility,” Shetty said.

At present, 20 per cent of the airlines ticket sales come from online ticketing.

The facility is available for a group of up to a maximum of seven passengers and three segments per passenger at a time.

“Presently, 20 per cent of our business comes through e-ticketing. By the next three months, we will be taking it to 50 per cent. By 2007, we expect our total business will be based on e-ticketing,” Prock-Schauer said.