OREANDA-NEWS. On October 27, 2008 OOO S7 Ticket, S7 Group’s retail sales chain for tickets and tour packages, announced that it has received the official status of accredited agency of the International Air Transport Association (IATA),* reported the press-centre of S7 Airlines.  

The IATA certificate is a mark that guarantees high quality and a high level of service in the purchase or reservation of airline tickets.

The agency’s accession to the IATA allows it to issue domestic and international tickets on the flights of all the IATA member airlines. The agency’s priority is to work with S7 Airlines, the leader on Russia’s domestic transport market.

The certificate allows the agency to raise its status on Russia’s corporate and tourism services market.

IATA accreditation confirms that the qualifications of our personnel and the technical capabilities of our offices are in conformity with world standards. The IATA has set strict requirements with regard to the level of training of personnel involved in issuing airline tickets and accepts bank guarantees about the solvency of the agency only from banks that have Bank of Russia licenses and are rated by international agencies (Moody’s, Standard & Poors) or that are ranked in the top 100 in the official rankings of Russian banks.

In 2007 the S7 retail chain was ranked first by number of tickets sold according to the joint ranking of Kommersant Publishing House and the Turinfo Information Agency. In 2007, the companies of S7 Group sold 1.12m airline tickets. This is more than twice the number sold by the number 2 company in the ranking.

* The IATA is the international association of air carriers. The organization accredits all the regular flights of all its member airlines (the first three numbers on any international ticket are the air carrier’s IATA code. S7 Airlines’ code is 421). The IATA also sets norms for international pricing policy and accredits travel agencies.