DRMumbai: A joint representation was made by TAFI, TAAI and industry leaders to Pradeep Singh Kharola IAS, CMD, Air India with copies to the Minister of Civil Aviation; Minister of Finance; Minister of State for Civil Aviation; Revenue Secretary and Secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The letter stated that the members were shocked by Air India’s decision to go exclusive with the distribution of its airline inventory.
Air India is due to disconnect its domestic inventory from one Global Distribution System (GDS) and in 2019, from another GDS; thereby continuing its inventory distribution with only one GDS. The letter states that Air India should have involved the associations for feedback on the percentage of selling that happens through the GDS channels in India and which GDS accounts for what percentage. ‘Strangely, a GDS that connects substantial percentage of agencies is eliminated from inventory access’ the letter says.
Air India had previously said that the decision was so to save on GDS costs, which are high. The members however maintain that GDS cost is not as important as a ‘seat sale’ as the latter would mean more losses compared to savings on GDS distribution.
The letter lists out a series of challenges including how the recent move will limit easy access by the agencies in India and overseas to the airline’s inventory and its availability, something that is important to enable the sale of airline inventory; how a high percentage of bookings come from sub agencies that are connected only through IATA Agencies and how when the main IATA agency is disconnected from the airline inventory, the sub agencies too lose inventory access. This results in customer challenges, affecting the airline’s market share and other airlines in the process.
This is apart from a host of issues and the members have urged the authorities concerned to intervene in the matter to ensure the stability of the airline.
