The European Parliament is working on the revision of the legislation on computerised reservation systems (CRSs)¹, which is crucial for the travelling public to benefit from a neutral and complete access to competitive air fares.
ECTAA and GEBTA deplore that the proposed Regulation fails to address the increasing trend of airlines to provide different prices depending on whether the customer buys directly on the airline’s website or whether it buys through a CRS used by a travel agent. Only CRSs are regulated to provide neutral comparison between available fares. Moreover, if airlines can continue to discriminate against CRSs by not providing the same access to fares, consumers that do not book through Internet will suffer discrimination. Furthermore, comparing and finding the optimal flight from the numerous different booking channels will require more time and investments in expensive technological tools.
Said the President of ECTAA, Jan Van Steen: “This could cause the air transport distribution to loose the benefit of its early automation and of the centralisation of offer that was ensured until recently in CRSs, at a time when the European Union is paradoxically trying to complete the Internal Market for air transport”.
ECTAA and GEBTA believe that prohibiting discrimination between distribution channels for access to fares would be the basis for a genuine liberalisation of air transport, by facilitating entries of new CRSs in Europe, thereby intensifying competition between CRSs, ensuring that all consumers can have access to comprehensive and neutral information on air fares through CRSs and resolving the issues deriving from the participation of airlines in the capital of a CRS. On this last point, ECTAA and GEBTA welcome the amendment foreseen by the European Parliament to ensure that any airline participating in the capital of a CRS should be subject to rules on non-discrimination.
Another issue deeply concerns ECTAA and GEBTA, which is the sale by CRSs to airlines of marketing data revealing commercially sensitive information. The identification of travel agents in those marketing data has been providing to airlines oversight of their competitors’ policy, including travel agents’ commercial policy. Such data can damage competition by freezing price competition in air transport, influencing travel agents’ sales and distorting competition for the distribution of air tickets. The European Commission recognised those concerns and has thus proposed to strictly prohibit travel agents’ identification in CRS marketing data. However, the European Parliament is considering an amendment introducing a possibility to identify travel agents in those data. ECTAA and GEBTA are convinced that any exception to the identification prohibition will undermine the objective of sounder competition.
The Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Tourism will discuss the proposed Regulation and possible amendments on 7-8 April 2008.
(¹) Computerised Reservation Systems are systems centralising air fares of subscribing carriers, which permits subscribing travel agents to provide instantaneous information on fares and availability to customers, as well as additional services.
Date of publication: 3 April 2008