PAPER airline tickets will soon be phased out of the domestic market after the International Air Transport Association stops offering paper tickets for international routes to Chinese sales agencies next Monday, the Beijing Daily reported today.

China is expected to become the first country to use only electronic air tickets on both domestic and international routes around the end of this year, the report said.

The China Air Transport Association stopped providing paper flight tickets in October, 2006, as a response to a call by the IATA to popularize e-tickets in China.

According to the IATA's plan, all airlines around the world will stop using paper tickets by June 1, 2008, which will save about US$2.5 billion annually.

IATA launched its drive for e-ticketing more than three years ago and now 84 percent of travelers on IATA carriers fly without paper tickets.

E-tickets account for 98 percent of all tickets sold on domestic routes on Ctrip.com, one of China's largest Web-based travel agencies, and about 50 percent of international flights, the report said.