IATA agents to boycott airlines offering zero per cent commission

VADODARA: As many as 60 IATA agents based in the district have decided to boycott airlines that are offering zero per cent commission to them, official sources of the IATA Agents' Association of India (IAAI) said.

Sixty IATA agents and about 3,000 sub agents from the Vadodara chapter of IATA Agents' Association of India (IAAI) that includes the district of Bharuch, Surat, Narmada, Tapi, Bulsar and Navsari may boycott the airlines that are not offering them five per cent commission, sources said.

Till now, the agents were getting five per cent commission that was in-built in the air fare, they said.

The companies include domestic airlines like Jet and Kingfisher and international airlines like Lufthansa, Swiss Air and Air India among others.

The airline companies took this decision as a cost cutting measure as it had to give commission amount of Rs 400 crore to the agents every year, sources connected to the companies said.

The zero per cent commission decision came into force from November 1 which has, since then, created a chaotic situation among the passengers in this region.

This may make air travelling a costlier affair for the passengers and may also lead to retrenchment of staff employees from these companies, sources said.