‘No IATA for Jet Airways instantly’

 

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, feels that getting the government to agree on RT-PCR testing is one of their biggest achievements. She also feels that Jet Airways should not be given IATA membership right away and seeks an update on pending refunds.

Nisha Verma

“One thing we have recently achieved is RT-PCR testing, which the government has now adopted,” reveals Jyoti Mayal, adding, “I think TAAI was the only one pushing for it, since it was important to start tourism. Also, now they have agreed for no quarantine of any kind, which would also help. However, tourist visa has not opened, which when done, would boost tourism further.” She says that they have also written to the government requesting
them to make RTPCR testing free of cost. “It is very important to stimulate demand for tourism,” she believes.

Incentives for domestic tourism

With travellers being extremely cautious these days, Mayal suggests it is the time to push for family tourism and Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) tourism, where people can be a bit confident to travel.

“However, to start tourism, government needs to incentivise right now. We need a format where we tell the world that they will get certain rebates to go to a place and that it is safe. Till now, the right message has not been passed to the public about the situation and it needs to be done,” she advises.

On Jet Airways…

After Jet Airways’ grounding, agents were supposed to only get eight per cent of their due amounts to the airline from IATA. However, now the airline is coming back with new owners, and Mayal feels that they shouldn’t be immediately enrolled into IATA.

“We had an APJC meeting recently where we addressed this topic. We know that it has now gone into insolvency and our money might not come back, as insolvency laws protect stakeholders more than the consumers. We have also asked IATA on how they have paid our members since not all of them have got eight per cent refund, but have it under different calculations. Hence, we have asked for a clarification from IATA. We have also written to MoCA and IATA, as we wanted to get this on record that in case of default by an agent, he is not allowed to become an IATA member again for a couple of years. Now the airline has gone for insolvency and we haven’t got our money back. Hence, Jet Airways should not be taken as an IATA carrier till the time we don’t know how they are working, what is their plan, and how it should be moving forward,” she asserts.