IATA to phase in changes to Agency Program over two years.
The IATA Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) billing cycle for airline tickets sold through IATA-accredited travel agencies in Australia is set to be halved to just seven days, with AFTA negotiating a phased introduction which will see the change fully implemented on 1st February 2018.
The first step will see the current 14 day settlement reduced by three days from 1st February next year, and then shortened by a further four days two years later, Travel Daily can exclusively reveal this morning.
AFTA ceo Jayson Westbury said the changes follow protracted negotiations with IATA and the airlines over the past 18 months, with the phased approach allowing the Austrailan agency community “the time necessary to adjust their business arrangements to accommodate this reduction”.
He said as well as impacting the cash flow for IATA agents the shorter settlement is also likely to flow on to other areas of the distribution chain as commercial agreements are updated to reflect the change.
The shorter BSP, which brings Australia into line with other markets such as New Zealand, is yet to be formally passed by IATA and will be presented at the Passenger Agency Conference to be held in Geneva next month.
Currently the IATA BSP in Australia is a seven day cycle with settlement 14 days later, and will become a seven day cycle with seven day settlement from 01 February 2018.
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.