International Air Transport Association awarded Estonian Air with Platinum-Airline status. This makes Estonian Air the first certified airline in Baltic States that has fully implemented the new bar coded boarding pass (BCBP) system.

The new bar coded boarding passes (BCBP) replaces the previous magnetic stripe boarding passes which gives a possibility to use unified flight information system, simplifying recording the information on traveller, luggage, flight destination, bonus points etc., and improves cooperation between different airlines.

Information for the Editor
The bar coded boarding pass, that includes all necessary passenger data for travelling, will become a standard by the end of 2010 to all IATA members. Platinum-status is awarded to airlines and airports that implement the new system in full before the required date. In October 2009, Tallinn Airport was awarded with the International Air Transport Association with Platinum-Airport status.

According to IATA´s forecasts abandoning the expensive and environmentally unfriendly magnetic stripe boarding passes helps save the air transport industry up to US$1.5 billion every year and also save the environment.

By now the BCBP system is used by more than 220 airlines and 500 airports worldwide, in Europe the number of airlines is around 20.
IATA represents some 230 airlines in 150 countries comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic. The organization also represents, leads and serves the airline industry in general.

More information about the new boarding pass system can be found at http://www.iata.org/stb/bcbp.