The Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) held an Extraordinary General Meeting at the Kowloon Shangri-la Hotel today (14 October) to protest against successive cuts of agency commission by Air France and KLM.

At the Extraordinary General Meeting, the following resolutions were unanimously passed by the members present:

1. “THAT the TIC strongly opposes Air France’s and KLM’s announced progressive reduction of commission for travel agents to zero on 1 April 2010, and demands that the two airlines immediately abandon the entire plan.”
2. “THAT in the event of Air France and KLM ignoring our demand, appropriate legal and / or immediate and strong actions will be taken, including recommending a boycott if necessary.”
3. “THAT the TIC shall lead the actions required.”

On 1 October last year, Air France and KLM had already reduced agency commission from 7% to 5%. A series of protest actions had been initiated by the TIC, including not providing services for the two airlines, but had failed to sway their decision to cut commission.

On 1 October this year, the two airlines cut agency commission again, this time from 5% to 3%. They also announced that from 1 April next year, agency commission will be slashed to zero. The TIC is seeking senior counsel advice on the matter.

For enquiries, please contact TIC Executive Director Mr Joseph Tung.