By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Air travel agents and their staff in Kerala will stage a sit-in before the seven Air India offices spread across the state Tuesday to protest against the airline’s decision to scrap agents’ commission from Nov 1.
K.V. Muraleedharan, general convenor of the Travel and Tourism Coordination Forum, an umbrella organisation of travel, tourism and recruiting agents in Kerala, told reporters Saturday night that the protest would begin at 10 a.m. and end at 1 p.m.
“Till the time the sit-in ends, all travel agencies in the state would down their shutters. This is just a token protest to warn Air India that if they do not restore the five percent commission, we will intensify our stir,” Muraleedharan said.
Air India has already given notice to agents that the five percent commission would be scrapped from Nov 1.
“Though we have protested against other airlines in the past, this would be the first time that we are staging a sit-in in front of Air India. We have no other way because 300,000 people, who work in this field, would be rendered jobless,” Muraleedharan added.
“Till Aug 15, a one-way ticket to the United Arab Emirates from here was in the range of Rs.7,500 to Rs.9,000 and with the season peaking now, the rates are in the range of Rs.19,000 to Rs.29,500. During both these times, the rates on Air India was among the lowest and once they get rid of us, they will have none to question their acts and they can also jack up their fares,” he said.