Oman Air, Air India, Akbar Travels facing Consolidation Controversy in Kerala

Air India Oman Air in controversy

Consolidation -selling bulk ticket to a single agent rampant in India

Thiruvananthapuram - September 2, 2002.Oman Air and Air India officials are in the eye of a controversy surrounding a dubious decision by the airline to sell the entire tickets of a special Thiruvananthapuram-Muscat flight to just one travel agent that raised strong objection from other travel agents and leading travel trade associations. Representatives of the travel trade in Kerala have demanded an investigation by the Central Buraue of Investigation into the deal that benefited only one travel agent -viz. Akbar Travels, owned by an influential business group. Various travel agents have questioned what they termed 'a dubious deal between Oman Air and Akbar Travels' to sell the tickets of a special Thiruvananthapuram-Muscat (flight No WY 2812), violating the prevailing market practice. It is alleged that the deal involving "vastha" has the tacit approval of Air India and Indian civil aviation officials.

However, M.B.Raju General Manager, Akbar Travels, claimed that Oman Air started the new flight to Muscat due to its special request to help the stranded Gulf bound NRK passengers. He argued that there is nothing 'illegal" in the deal and other travel agents and associations have unnecessarily raked up a non-issue. IATA Travel Agents Association, Travel Federation of India and Kerala Association of Travel Agents have made a formal complaint to the Indian Prime Minister and Civil Aviation Minister about the deal, demanding a CBI probe.

According to airline sources, even though such practice is nothing new in the Indian travel business, airline officials were not practicing in Kerala, the most literate state with strong socio-political consciousness. Generally known as "Consolidation", such dubious agreements are reached between airline officials, leading travel agents with the tacit approval of civil aviation authorities. "Consolidation is a general practice in Mumbai, Delhi and other prominent cities. In other parts of India it has been going on for several years," said a senior official of a travel agent. Leading travel agents buy ticket in bulk and distribute among its own subagent network to market it. However, such monopolistic practice is not a healthy trend for common passengers..
Leading travel agents whose daily ticket sales volume range from Rs.10 lakhs to Rs. 20 lakhs are vying with each other to take advantage of such Consolidation and a share of the deal goes to civil aviation and airline officials, itis alleged.

Oman Air, Indian Airlines and Air India have decided to introduce special flights to solve the severe shortage of seats that affected large number of Non Resident Keralites who wanted to reach various Gulf destinations before their visa expired. According to reports, the airlines have been overbooking due to the high demand for tickets, but there were no cancellations during the peak period. All the overbooked passengers were stranded in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi Airports awaiting special flights. Despite repeated please to introduce special flights to manage the additional traffic, Indian authorities have been remaining silent and finally Oman Air came forward with a new flight -WY. Indian Airlines and Air India have also introduced special flights to tackle the traffic as most UAE bound passengers wanted to reach before the Indian schools were reopened yesterday. IA will have special Chennai, Kochi Sharja Flights on September 2nd , 4th and Sixth. According to reports all seats are to major Gulf destinations are fully booked up to September 17, 2002. Muscat bound flights are filled with UAE passengers .UAE schools have started reopening .

It is also learned that some airline and civil aviation officials who are hand in glove with the hotel lobby in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut make it a point to delay some of the flights during the peak seasons, creating additional demand for hotel rooms in these cities. According to travel trade sources, there are certain hotels in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram which make big money when Gulf bound airlines are delayed or postponed for some silly "technical" reasons. Passengers from different parts of the state have to be given accommodation by the airlines. Special agreements are made between the airlines and hotels for accommodating passengers during such situations. While there are genuine reasons for some cancellations, there are avoidable cancellations too, say inside sources. When the number of passengers is less than a ceiling, these airlines will cancell the flight without giving any reason. No wonder, leading Indian carriers share only 30 per cent of the total traffic from the Gulf to Kerala, a lucrative sector for all the Gulf based carriers like Oman Air, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Qatar Airways. For Oman Air, it is the most lucrative sector that makes up for the losses incurred in other sectors.

Corrupt Indian politicians and bureaucrats are working overtime to make efficient state owned airlines and companies into sick units, and hand them over to greedy businessman at throwaway prices. Don't be surprised if we hear that the so called "loss making national carriers" IA and AI are handed over to some Gulf based airlines or businessman at throwaway prices.

Gulf Air, the leading national carrier owned by the Governments of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Abhu Dhabi may resume its direct flights to Indian destinations including Kerala. According to Gulf Air sources, the airline has experienced a sharp fall in business following its decision to divert some direct flights through new feeder routes. Already the Airline has created panic in the air cargo business by offering the cheapest cargo rates to India. So don't be surprised if Gulf Air will introduce new flights to Kerala, Indian destinations. A special team is already doing the Indian market study. The Gulf Carrier has realised the potential in the Indian sector, especially Kerala, where the national carriers have failed to cheer up the NRK passengers. Despite the recent accident reports, which showed Gulf Air in a bad light, the airline is poised to regain its lost position as the premier Gulf carrier --Make it the Gulf Air of the 1980s.(keralamonitor.com)