Lower cost carriers?

AVIATION: Soon, some more ticket sales options for no frills carriers to woo passengers.

Admit it "" most of us suffer to a smaller or larger extent from technophobia. For all the fuss about credit card security, it is this that keeps us from making bookings on the Net and continues to keep the neighbourhood travel agent in business.

It's not the ideal solution because the travel agent cannot give you the lowest costs or best fares in a jiffy. And that's because, like us, the travel agent too has to log on to the airline website for the day of the flight and sector, then compare it with other airline websites "" a time-consuming task so that, by the time he's through with the searching and has your approval, the best fare may no longer be available!

But soon, if the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) manages to implement its new system for members, travel agents might be able to instantly get you the lowest fare and bookings.

TAAI is working on its own version of a domestic global distribution system which will host only low cost carriers. "This should make life easier for our members," says C V Prasad, president, TAAI.

According to Prasad, it is low cost carriers that have provided the aviation push in the last few years, and by next year could command a market share of over 50 per cent. But low cost carriers have not joined any of the existing global distribution systems to save on cost, because agents are an expensive distribution channel.

"One of the main motives of this system," explains Rajji Rai, vice president, TAAI, of the association's initiative, "is to dispel the notion that distributing through agents is expensive." Another reason is to attract the younger, tech-savvier crowd to book through travel agents.

The cost for an agent today is Rs 70-90 per transaction and the new system will try and peg this down to Rs 20 per transaction, translating into more earnings for the agent. Airlines, on the other hand, will have to pay much less per segment than what they would have had to pay existing global distribution systems.

"The per segment cost for an airline would be most than 50 per cent cheaper than existing distribution systems," says Prasad. The new system is to be funded by venture capitalists. After the launch though (by the end of this year), TAAI members will have the option to invest in the new system.

For now, a distribution system charges $ 3-4 per segment from a member airline. This is what low cost carriers saved in selling tickets only through their websites. For a carrier, the per segment cost through the Internet is 20-25 cents. "Beat that and we might think of it," says a spokesperson of a low cost airline.

Ankur Bhatia, MD of global distribution system Amadeus India says they are looking at launching a product specific to the requirements of a low cost carrier, perhaps by the end of the year, and confirms that its per segment cost could be even lower than using the Internet as a distribution channel.

And with other global distribution sytems too working to roll out low cost carrier specific products, they could soon be spoilt for choice. And any which way, it's win-win for the traveller.