Following the collapse of negotiations with Singapore Airlines regarding restoring the practice of giving a 5 per cent commission to travel agents on ticket sales, the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) along with all other such bodies in the country have declared a boycott on the sale of Singapore Airline tickets starting Monday for an indefinite period.

Rajji Rai, President, TAAI, said, “We’re not asking for anything extraordinary. An agent offers a service to both the client and the airline. Why should we run an entire business for airlines and receive nothing in return?”

However, given that small and medium-sized agencies’ finances are not geared to survive a strike of more than a few days, they have had to move cautiously to avoid foreign carriers coming together to oppose this move. Singapore Airlines is the only international carrier that has been approached so far by the TAAI. The rationale behind this, says Rai, is that as they were the first international airline to switch to the transaction fee model, now that Indian Airlines, Kingfisher, Jet and even Air India have reverted to the traditional model, international carriers should follow suit. “Qatar Airlines is next on our list,” added Rai.

Close to 85 per cent of all airline tickets are sold by travel agents. However, despite potential losses of as much as Rs10-15 crore a day as long the the boycott stands, Singapore Airlines does not appear to be hugely concerned. When approached on the issue, Foo, General Manager India for Singapore Airlines, told TAAI that only the head office in Singapore was empowered to take such decisions and that process could take as much as 6 months.