It's time to wave goodbye to airline tickets. The last paper tickets for the world's airlines have been ordered, and are now winging their way to passengers' hands.

The next time you travel could be the last time you see a "proper" ticket, if you still use them. From next year, IATA, the international body that oversees the airline industry, says it will go over to 100 per cent electronic ticketing.

It might be an historic moment in travel history, but will anyone notice the difference? From the early days of commercial aviation, when the grand dames of air travel KLM and Qantas first took to the passengers from place to place, passengers have clutched pieces of paper to their chests when approaching the airport, but many experts believe the time is right for the paper ticket to head for its final boarding gate.

Jeremy King, head of marketing for business travel management group ATP, said the move to 100 per cent e-tickets was overdue. "The remaining tweaks will iron themselves out," he said.

The last remaining airlines and airports to accept e-tickets, such as Royal Jordanian and Baku, are now catching up with the technological leap forward, said King, who felt that most business travellers would not turn a well-manicured hair at the changeover.

A few years ago there was a resistance to using just an e-ticket, but with the rise of low-cost carriers who don't offer paper tickets mean the majority of travellers have become used to travelling with just a reservation number. "Now things have changed, we are much more used to e-tickets now. We are a bit more comfortable with it," said King.

According to IATA about 16 per cent of airline tickets are currently the old-fashioned paper kind, and it argues that cutting out this type of ticket could save around 50,000 trees per year.

“We are changing an industry with tangible benefits for travellers, agents, airlines and the environment,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general. “Consumers enjoy the convenience and flexibility of paperless travel."

But not everyone is convinced that the decision has as many environmental benefits as IATA outlines. Often there is still plenty of paper being used, but passengers are printing out tickets and itineraries on the office computers before they leave, rather than being issued with them by airlines or travel agents. And as King says many agencies still advise passengers to travel with paper copies of essential travel information in case they can't access their PC or mobile phone.

Norman Gage, director of business travel, Advantage Travel Agencies, said: "There are savings on administration costs for the airlines, but not necessarily for the end user."

He added that paper tickets often gave people a comfort factor and there would be a transitional period.

Gage warned travellers to make sure they still chased refunds from unused tickets - even if they didn't have a paper ticket any more.

Meanwhile travel agents will have to grapple with new and more complicated procedures for re-issuing an airline ticket, when changes are needed, as airlines move away from using one central system, said Gage. This could slow down the process and could end up costs agencies more, which may have to be passed on to the consumer, he claimed.

Overall, however, most business travellers don't seem to care much about the shift. Property developer Mark Le Feuvre said: "I have travelled practically every week for the last two years on an e-ticket and I have never had any problems. It's just a matter of getting used to it and having confidence in the system. I don't care at all about it and know I can change detail on line - I prefer the online facilities - including booking seat and printing boarding paper."

Researcher Bryn Davies, who travels once a month around the EU, said: "In some ways it’s easier to have an e-ticket. For example, if you forget them you can go to the Ryanair information desk and they'll print a new one out for you on production of your passport. I have had delays and cancellations and the e-ticket has never been a problem."

But management consultant Gillian Turnbull is not so sure. "I do think it is a bit of history happening, and I am concerned that there could be problems if all the computers go down or there are computer problems."