Good news for travel agents
There is a big news for the travel agents as the weekly settlement system has been deferred yet again. The fortnightly payment system will be retained till December 31, 2013.
The latest win over the payment settlement system battle by travel agents association shows the real strength of India’s travel trade associations. Since a year, travel trade is fighting back the airlines to put off the weekly settlement system as it threatens the very existence of small and mid sized ticketing agents. After rescheduling the implementation dates twice (First on June 1, 2012 and late November 1, 2012), the decision to retain the existing fortnightly payment cycle till December 31, 2012 and execute weekly settlement system from January 1, 2014 was taken at the recently held Passenger Agency Conference (PACONF) 2012 at Abu Dhabi. Associations like TAAI, TAFI and IAAI has played a major role in deferring the weekly settlement system with support from airlines representing Agency Programme Joint Council (APJC) India, IATA and Air India.
Iqbal Mulla, President, TAAI said, “In the current slowdown of the economy, it was not conducive to implement the weekly payment system as it might lead to a default in payments. At the moment, there is no default in payment by agents. It is due to our constant struggle and efforts that the weekly settlement system is being post-
poned to December 31, 2013. We are very optimistic that airlines and the agent community will work together for mutual benefit. We will now sit with the airlines and discuss further about things like allowing credit card pass through, etc. We will also train and encourage our members to create ancillary revenue members on the working model of weekly payment cycle. This will happen at regional and chapter level. This is a great move by PACONF and shows the strength of Indian trade associations.”