Emaar Hospitality Group’s latest property—The Address Boulevard has finally opened its doors to guests. The hotel has formally started operations on March 1, 2017 and is all set to welcome guests. Address Boulevard has 196 spacious rooms including 116 spacious Deluxe Rooms, 44 Deluxe Club Rooms, 28 One-Bedroom Suites, seven Two-Bedroom Suites and a luxurious Presidential Suite offering spectacular views of The Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa. In addition, there are 532 serviced apartments including duplexes and two penthouses, with short-term guests at the residences also guaranteed access to the hotel’s facilities. Situated in Downtown Dubai, the property offers the best in hospitality and service. With their signature dining concept The Restaurant at Address, expansive spa facilities, engaging Qix club for children, effortless access to The Dubai Mall and the state-of-the art serviced residences, the property offers a panoply of experiences and tastes. Located in heart of Dubai, it is the second tallest building in the Boulevard district, sixth tallest in Dubai and 36th tallest in the world.

Vistara inaugurated its daily direct service to Amritsar from Delhi, making it the fifth destination in northern India on the airline’s network. Vistara will commence operations between Amritsar and Mumbai with daily direct flights, starting March 8, 2017, which would make it the only full service airline to connect the two cities. Commenting on Amritsar’s potential and congratulating Vistara on the launch of the new service, Prakash Singh Badal, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab, said, “It is very heartening to see Amritsar expanding its air connectivity across the length and breadth of the country and to the world. Introduction of the new flights from Amritsar to Delhi by Vistara will definitely help not only the people of the state, but all countrymen who travel within the country and overseas. It will truly help Punjab harness its industrial, tourism, religious as well as business growth potential. I congratulate Vistara on the launch of this new service to and from Amritsar, and wish the airline great success.” Expressing delight at the launch, Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, “We’re very happy to add Amritsar to our network, and we sincerely believe in the city’s great potential for growth in several aspects, apart from only tourism. The launch of service to Amritsar is in line with our focus on customers, who have long desired to ‘fly the new feeling’ to the city, and it is also well aligned with our evolving international plans, as millions of NRIs travel to and from Amritsar every year. We’re confident that our customers will be equally delighted to fly these new routes with us.”

Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI, says, “Most of the tour operators and outbound agents have been working with Emirates as it has great connectivity to all the destinations that they are selling. On top of it, the 3 per cent commission was a great attraction. However, now after the commission has gone down, the cost of the package would go up and tour operators would tend to pick up other airlines for their clients. I find it difficult to understand that when most of the airline tickets are sold by ticketing agents and tour operators, why do the airlines do not think that it’s justified in rewarding them with commission?

M.P. Khanna, Managing Director, Diplomatic Travel, says, “We have been working very closely with Emirates for many years. However, reducing its commission from three per cent to 1 per cent would affect its business as it would now go to other airlines. However, while reducing the commission of agents, Emirates will be offering reduced fares online, which creates a difference from the prices on the GDS, and would affect our business too. When the customers will go online, they would go for cheaper fares. The business class and first class product of Emirates is not cheap, and hence there could be a loss. However, everyone in the business tends to be selfish. If we won’t get as much commission as we used to get earlier, we would divert our clients to airlines that offer us decent commission. When Emirates took the decision, they did not consult their trade partners who promoted them for years. Now, there would certainly be a loss of business to them.”

Rajan Sehgal, Chairman, Northern Region, TAAI, says “Emirates is expanding its network fast and already has the largest number of flights, amongst all the international carries, flying to and from India. All this is because of the support of the travel agents. Agents in India have been marketing, selling, bringing customers and giving credit to them and paying the airline in time. Emirates does not understand that this could negatively impact the business. Offering 3 per cent commission on the basic fare is only peanuts for Emirates, but it is still following suit as other international airlines. Withdrawing this commission is not a good sign. However, they would soon realise that travel agents are important for the business. the Indian travel industry, unlike in other nations, is not very strong and has no support from the government. Hence, everybody is cutting the profit of the travel agent, but they will soon realise that travel agents are a major contributor to their business.”

Disappointed by the latest circular by Emirates to cut down commissions to one per cent, Rajat Bagaria, Committee Member, The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), says, “Airlines should be encouraging their travel agency sales force rather than disarming them. Agents always considered EK as an agent-friendly airline, and we rewarded the airline with load factors from all the cities. However, this move brings them at par with other airlines. This comes at a time when the summer season is about to begin, and when we are already reeling under the Service Tax amendment impact. Coupled with the reduced commission, the web disparity, and direct promotions to the frequent fliers and corporates, the margins of the agents will be drastically hit. I hope they have call centres well equipped to handle customer calls and complaints.”

A torchbearer for the eroding agency commissions in India, Biji Eapen, National President, IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) reacts sharply to the news. He says, “Needless to say, this has come as a rude shock to the accredited travel agents fraternity in India as it is solely their market support that has placed Emirates above the national carrier in the Indian skies. The matter is being discussed with our National Management Committee and a formal request will be sent to Emirates to retract its decision.”

Reacting to this ongoing tug of war between airlines and travel agents, M.P. Joy, South India Chapter Chairman, Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) and Director, Voyargo Vacations in Bengaluru, says that in the process of distributing air tickets of various airlines, agents incur overheads of managing office, staff, etc. which are increasing every day. “In any business, the facilitator/agent must benefit so that the system works smoothly. I wonder why the airlines are reducing commissions to travel agents when they are the ones to benefit from the travel agents. Any effort in any business should be appreciated with adequate compensation to take care of the expenses as well as margins. It is unfortunate that airlines are not supporting us.” He adds, “Airlines should extend at least five per cent commission to authorised travel agents who support them.”

Reacting to the announcement made by Emirates, Sunil Kumar, National President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) says, “Not only is this an unfair move but also a move that has come at the wrong time. Travel agents have always supported Emirates in a big way by promoting them to their customers. As a result of this move, Emirates will lose its edge as agents will now move to other airlines. After all, why would anyone want to push a product that doesn’t give them any benefit? So, this move will not only hurt the agents but also the airline. The airline has also timed it badly as agents had already committed to a price structure for future bookings beyond April 2017. This abrupt announcement will hurt the agents a lot as the main season starts from April onwards. We were still recovering from demonetisation when this is announced. The team at TAAI is currently discussing what the association’s response to Emirates should be.”

Another large international airline has decided to cut its distribution expenses by revising its travel agent commission from the current three per cent to one. In a letter issued to the travel agents and signed by Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice President – India and Nepal, Emirates, the airline states, ‘…volatility has become the new normal in global aviation. Market, industry and customer dynamics add to the complexity of our business. So as the world economy and industry changes, so are we. Effective April 1, 2017, Emirates in India will revise the standard IATA commission  from current 3% to 1%. All tickets issued prior to April 1, 2017, will continue to attract the current 3% standard commission. We do understand that this move may require a change in your business model, but we hope together, we can emerge better and bigger.’ The letter ends with ‘Assuring you of our support at all times’.