The 2nd of May the European Commission is meeting representatives of the air transport supply chain to discuss whether the current legislation on computerised reservation systems (CRSs)1 should be revised or repealed.

The initial Regulation on CRSs was introduced in 1989 to ensure that passengers would be provided with transparent and non-discriminatory information on air fares. The Regulation enabled agents to provide customers with a neutral and complete fare display through CRSs.

ECTAA and GEBTA stress the importance of maintaining and updating the Regulation on CRSs, with focus on three issues:

1. Regulatory safeguards must be maintained against the risk of biased information, considering that major European carriers hold shares in the dominant CRS in Europe and can thus manipulate on-screen flight listings and fare information.



2. The Regulation must ensure that data on travel agents’ sales (MIDTs) collected by CRSs and sold to airlines do not give access to commercially sensitive information.



3. The legislation must also be adapted to the increasing trend of airlines to provide their fares at different prices and conditions depending on whether the customer buys directly online or whether he buys through a CRS used by an agent. Without specific rules against such discrimination, finding the optimal flight will require more time and money, costs which will ultimately be paid by the customer. Airlines should therefore be required to provide at no additional cost in CRSs full access to all public fares and availabilities.

President Jan Van Steen said: “If the European legislation is not maintained and adapted to the new market environment, then we loose the functionality of a neutral and complete display of fares provided by CRSs. This would bring us 30 years back, where information was completely decentralised. With an increasing offer of routes and fares, losing a centralised information tool would be detrimental for customers and their agents”.

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.