The largest carrier in Ukraine - Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) - has said that default of one of the largest consolidators of air ticket sales - Travel distribution services (TDS) - accredited by International Air Transport Association (IATA), is a planned fraud.
“This is force-majeure, and of course, this is a planned fraud, as there is no contacts with the owners of the company, there is no dialog with the former owners of the company, and the company was twice resold in a couple of months,” UIA Sales Director in Ukraine Andriy Pavlenko told reporters.
He said that the airliner carried around 600 passengers to whom TDS agency registered tickets and did not pay for them.
“As for money return, we’re not returning money directly at present, as we have not received the money. According to Ukrainian law we recommend passengers to come to the office of the company where the tickets were bought,” he added.
He also said that UIA is taking procedural actions on the issue jointly with other airlines and it is preparing for filing a claim to court.
Pavlenko said that the loss of the aviation market from the non-return of funds by the agency is around Hr 170 million, although he did not disclose the debt to UIA.
Commenting on the mechanisms that will protect from similar situations, Pavlenko said that at present there are certain criteria used by each agents to cover risks: this could be a bank guarantee or insurance policies, and some agents as large market players had discount if they had a bank guarantee or insurance policies – for example, they have had to insure 100 percent of their sales.
“We, the airlines operating on the Ukrainian aviation market, have changed the rules on agreements with agents so that by July 1, 2015 discounts will disappear and all agencies will cover their risks by 100 percent,” he said.
He also said that one of the most protected mechanism of online acquisition of tickets is their purchase directly on the Web site of airlines, adding that in July the share of direct sales of UIA via its Website came to 58 percent.
Travel distribution services in July 2014 refused to pay debts to airlines.
Later, the Association of Tourist Industry Leaders of Ukraine and the operators of the air traffic market are considering the issue of creating a community of IATA agencies in Ukraine, which will be able to express opinions and the position of operators in relations with airlines and government agencies.
According to media reports, TDS is part of Senturia Group, which also incorporates Stars Travel and Vremena Goda, the owner of which is Ivan Kovpak, who also said that TDS was resold twice and today he does not own the company.
