Airlines plan portal to save on agent commission

Indian carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, IndiGo have figured a way to save on agent commission service charge. The three airlines under the banner of Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) are planning to launch a travel portal- Rang7 to sell air tickets. According to a report in Economic Times by Nirbhay Kumar, a person close to the development informed that the industry body is expected to take up the proposal in its next meeting. The proposed portal is likely to be launched within two months.

Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have earlier withdrawn agent commission but had to soon restore it under pressure from thousands of travel agents across the country. According to industry estimates, distribution of air tickets through travel agents and travel portals such as Makemytrip.com and Yatra.com costs airlines nearly Rs 200 crore annually. It will show fares offered by different airlines in ascending order