The Malta Business Weekly

ECTAA welcomes pay-out of Malev refunds to travel agents and tour operators following an agreement with IATA

-

The former Hungarian flag carrier Malev went bankrupt in 2012 leaving many travel agencies and tour operators with unpaid refund requests. After lengthy and complex negotiatio­ns, travel agents obtain a pay-out of large parts of their refund requests.

“Failure of an airline is always a complex issue to sort out and Malev was no exception. After eight years of work, ECTAA and its member organisati­ons commitment is finally paying off!” said Pawel Niewiadoms­ki, president of ECTAA.

Following the bankruptcy of Malev, funds of unused Malev tickets were safeguarde­d on an escrow account by IATA, which is responsibl­e for the billing and settlement of air tickets between IATA accredited agents and airlines. Travel agents requested a refund of unused Malev tickets for their customers, but other creditors of the airline disputed the legitimate ownership of that money.

In 2015, three years following the bankruptcy of Malev, some 190 travel agents initiated a court case in Amsterdam to get legal certainty. In 2018 a judgment agreed with the position of these travel agents and IATA and recognised that the Malev funds for unused tickets belonged in principle to the travel agents’ customers, acknowledg­ing also that the monies administer­ed by IATA were not sufficient to completely cover all refund requests.

Additional discussion­s arose following the judgment and to prevent additional court proceeding­s, the parties engaged in negotiatio­ns in order to come to an agreement that would be acceptable for everyone. The agreement has now been signed, meaning that all validated refund claim amounts will be distribute­d proportion­ately to all travel agents after deduction of the legal costs.

Niewiadoms­ki concluded: “We are very happy that this case is finally coming to an end. The refund of the requests in the middle of the biggest crisis of the industry is great news for travel agents and their customers.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malta