E-Stamp Corp. has signed a deal with Atraxis Group in which the companies will collaborate to provide a ticket-printing system for German airline LTU International Airways.
The agreement allows LTU to offer Internet customers the ability to download and print their tickets from a desktop. The companies said the tickets would be of value to people making last-minute flight arrangements. The firms expect consumers to be attracted to the service because they will have a physical document — unlike e-tickets, which rely on digital files.
The service will begin as a pilot program for standby flights from Munich to Dusseldorf in Germany through mid-September. If successful, LTU plans to extend the program into next year.
Promotionally, the airline will offer special incentives to customers who print their own tickets. The incentives include special baggage privileges, rental car discounts and no extra fees for seat reservations.
E-Stamp, Mountain View, CA, recently licensed the technology it uses for its Internet postage services to enable Atraxis to print secured tickets. The system prints each ticket with a unique, two-dimensional barcode and a digital signature. Both features allow purchasers to prove ownership at airport check-ins.
Atraxis, an information technology firm with headquarters in Melville, NY, also plans to market E-Stamp's system to airlines across Europe. Financial terms of the agreement were not released.
