Calcutta, March 10: Travel agents across the country are set to suspend all dealings with Air-India after the national carrier decided to reduce their commission from 7 to 5 per cent from May 1.

After a series of discussions with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Air-India, which is trying to enter the elite Star Alliance of leading global airlines, today announced the slash in a written communiqu? to travel agents? associations throughout the country.

Over 1,000 agents are accredited to IATA, with around 126 in Calcutta alone. Besides, there are nearly 14,000 sub-agents who are not affiliated to the association and have to purchase tickets through those who are.

Minutes after receiving the notice from N. Surin, Air-India commercial manager (eastern India), Calcutta?s travel agents went into a huddle. ?We sell Air-India tickets worth over Rs 3 crore annually despite the fact that they don?t have any international flights from Calcutta. But now with this decision, we are left with no alternative but to stop selling Air-India tickets,? said Anil Punjabi, the eastern region chairman of the Travel Agents? Federation of India (TAFI).

Zakir Ahmed, the all-India president of the federation, said over phone from Mumbai: ?We always love to support our national carrier, but with the rates slashed in this manner, we have no choice but to take the drastic decision of not selling Air-India (tickets) to the public anymore.?

Jeetendra Bhargava, the Air-India director (public relations), defended the decision, saying it was made after taking into account the global trend of reducing commissions to travel agents. ?Countries like the United Kingdom and the US are slashing rates from 7 to 4 per cent, while Germany and France are bringing it down to zero. So agents in India will actually be earning more than anybody else in the world,? Bhargava said from Delhi.

Sanjay Seth, the chairman of the eastern India chapter of the Travel Agents? Association of India (TAAI), confirmed receiving a letter from Air-India. ?Both the associations (TAAI and TAFI) have decided to work hand in hand since this is a national crisis. If today we succumb to pressure tactics from Air-India, other airlines will follow suit,? TAAI executive secretary G. Pintoo said from Mumbai.

With the suspension threat, Air-India is set to lose a substantial amount of business. Almost 90 per cent of the seats are filled up by agents in India, while only 2-3 per cent of the tickets are booked over the counter.

?Last July, Lufthansa Airlines had also taken a similar decision of slashing rates from 7 to 5 per cent, but once we decided to suspend operations with them, they did a volte face. We will also take part in a nationwide token strike next month and down our shutters for a day,? Punjabi said. ?Earlier, after the 9/11 strike in New York, all the agents had decided to slash rates from 9 to 7 per cent to save the industry from crisis, but with a further slash, the agents? only source of earning will be over.?