Singapore Airlines face-off with travel agents set to continue

Mumbai: The managing committee of the Travel Agents Association of India (Taai) on Tuesday rejected a productivity-linked bonus offer by Singapore Airlines, continuing a stand-off between the airline and travel agents that is approaching its fifth month.
“Taai had demanded commission on tickets sold. In fact, we had asked all of our state committees to tighten their stand against Singapore Airlines with a slogan ‘Quit India’,” Taai president Rajinder Rai said, following the managing committee’s meeting in Kochi. Earlier, the airline had offered a productivity-linked bonus in which agents would get 2% of total sales provided they brought in business of at least Rs5 lakh a month.
“Tafi (Travel Agents’ Federation of India) members had overwhelmingly rejected the productivity-linked proposal since it is not the remuneration equal to commission… Moreover, there is no continuity for this scheme since it is negotiated every year. Nothing stops Singapore Airlines to stop this (a) few months down the lane,” said Ajay Prakash, national general secretary, Tafi. The two groups had made the decision late last week; the Taai managing committee meeting in Kochi on Tuesday was to ratify this decision, among other things.
This is the first time Singapore Airlines made an offer similar to other global carriers since it did away with a 5% commission on each ticket sold. Of the 72 international airlines operating in India, at least 16 do not pay commission to travel agents.
C.W. Foo, general manager (India) for Singapore Airlines, confirmed the offer in an email to Mint. “In the meeting with the travel agents associations on 12 May 2009, we offered (a) productivity-linked incentive scheme, which covers a broad base of travel agents i.e. a modest productivity target of Rs5 lakh per annum with 2% incentive,” he said.
20/05/09 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Foreign May 2009, Indian Aviation- In General May 2009