Pursuant to APJC India approval to table resolutions at the Passenger Agency (PA) Conference, Sunil Kumar, Acting President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), recently attended the IATA event (including PAPGJC & Passenger Agency Conference) held at San Diego.
Apart from TAAI, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) and global travel agencies such as UFTAA and WTAAA among others also participated in the conference.
TAAI was campaigning in favor of APJC India resolutions which were being put up at the PA Conference. Despite the unanimity of APJC, India, Indian agents went through extremely tough situations. Out of the 200+ airlines of IATA who might be present, even one negative vote from any one airline can defeat a resolution.
One important resolution was about the Joint Bank Guarantee (JBG), which is unique to India. It was discontinued by IATA effective 31st December 2013. IATA was unwilling to continue unless an approval is sought from PA Conference. This was a huge challenge for India. “My presence at San Diego was to create awareness and share success stories of this exception we sought for India, which would benefit our members,” Kumar said.
Kumar spoke about the success of the scheme. “Efforts were invested to convince airlines present. Though we won attention of agency associations, the immediate response we got from others was indicating a clear no to the Joint Bank Guarantee Scheme. There was unwillingness to accept it and there were reservations to consider it as a ‘Financial Security’ as per IATA resolutions. Even one “No Vote ” from any airline present, was enough to defeat the recommendation at PA Conference,” Kumar added.
The JBG is unknown to most parts of the world. One worry IATA and airlines perhaps had was other associations, globally, may also demand its introduction.
Seema Srivastava from Air India (also Chairman of APJC – India) briefed that this matter came up in the APJC and shared with the house the preamble to the recommendation. During the conference, participants asked several questions seeking clarity regarding JBG to Kumar which was addressed. Even Chairman asked the question on the credibility of the scheme.
After hearing all discussions, the PA Conference has approved (without any single negative vote) the Joint Bank Guarantee Scheme as an exception for India. IATA Legal is asked to review the legal aspects and may ask APJC India to create norms and review its working.
