For those who might have thought IATA’s resolution 787 to destroy open competition was ‘unbelievable’ read on to this article by the US Business Travel Coalition (BTC) here.
However, for those who are not travel agents, who appear to be on IATA’s hit list, or competition lawyers, the take away would be that IATA is trying to back track from its absurd NDC or New Distribution Capability in its rhetoric without actually altering the resolution.
It is a farce. IATA is an organisation that represents, among others, carriers that couldn’t run a pie shop without lobbying the authorities to suppress smarter, cheaper and better competitors from starting up.
IATA does not represent the emergence of more entrepreneurial and in most cases, low cost carriers, and appears to think it can dictate competition policy changes, for the worse for consumers, to governments worldwide.
The BTC article is not an easy read for lay consumers. But it is an important one, and as always, it is recommended to keep in mind that the BTC is a lobby, just as IATA is a lobby. One of which, if you are a traveller, is on your side.