Date:10/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011050330200.htm

Kerala - Kochi

Travel agents’ demand

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The IATA Agents’ Association of India has demanded that foreign airline companies that have not been remitting service tax to the government make amends at the earliest.

The core committee chairman of the association Paulose K. Mathew said that a regulatory board to monitor airline operations in India must be constituted to ensure that the functioning of the airlines and their distribution channels are within the framework of the IATA. Such a regulatory mechanism would check such malpractices that harm the Indian travel industry and the country’s economy.

Addressing mediapersons at the Ernakulam Press Club, he added that travel agents would be forced to boycott airlines that do not pay them commission.