Air travel agents protest move to scrap commission

To down shutters today in T’puram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts.

Air travel agents in Kerala are on the warpath against the decision of airline companies to scrap the commission offered by the latter to approved agents for ticket sales. The decision will come into effect from November 1.

“We are taking the first major step forward to stop the airline companies from making such a move by downing our shutters on Tuesday (tomorrow) from 9 am to 1 pm in the three districts – Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta,” KVKV Muraleedharan, general convener of the Travel-Tourism Coordination Forum, a body representing the travel, tourism and recruiting agents in Kerala’s southern districts, told Business Standard.

As part of the stir, sit-ins at the Air India offices in these three districts have been organised. Similar protests would be organised in other districts of the state following Tuesday’s shutdown.

Muraleedharan pointed out that the commission given by the airline companies to approved agents for ticket sales used to be 9 per cent in the 70s. However, the rates came down to 7 per cent in 1995 and now stands at 5 per cent.