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Air travel agents from across the country demanded on Monday the government to direct airlines, including state-owned Air India, to reinstate commission paid to them, which has been abolished on the 'pretext' of incurring loses.
In a meeting, attended by several airline unions in New Delhi, the travel agents have also demanded the Parliament to pass a law for commission, so that 'it could not be changed by the air carriers for their monetary benefits'.
The associations submitted a mass petition in this regard to the Petition Committees of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The fraternity has been fighting for the reinstatement of travel commission after it was abolished by airlines, including Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher from November 1.
"Abolition of the commission is going to spell doom for thousands of travel agencies in the country and thus will affect over a million people working in travel and related sectors," IAAI president Biji Eapen said.
Earlier, the travel agents were being paid commission for selling air tickets by the airlines. The commission, however, had been reduced from nine per cent to five per cent over a period of time.
Eapen said that a delegation of travel agents would meet civil aviation minister Praful Patel to put forward their demand of atleast five per cent commission in the air fares.
The fraternity claimed that they have also got support from several Members of Parliament, including CPI-M MP Brinda Karat and JD(S) MP Veerendra Kumar joining hands to fight for the 'legitimate rights' of the travel agents.
"The Jet Airways and Kingfisher have agreed to reinstate three per cent commission after we boycotted them for some time this month and now demand Air India to take the similar step," Eapen claimed.
He said if the national career fails to fulfill our legal demand, "we will have no other option but to intensify our campaign against it."