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The manager of IATA in Israel responded to the complaints of the Israel Travel Agents Association to the Antitrust Authorities. Zussman: “The BSP system operates to the benefit of everyone, travel agents, airlines and consumers.”

The manager of IATA in Israel, Kobi Zussman said in response to the complaints of the Travel Agents Association that the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) misuses the power of the airlines and the collectively punishes travel agents that fail to meet IATA’s directives, that since they started operating in 2004 on average only a small number of travel agents have been disconnected from the system.

“The complaints of the travel agents association are exaggerated, warned Zussman. In meetings with professionals in recent months, we didn’t hear any of these allegations; on the contrary, from feedback received the travel agents reported on the simplicity and efficiency since the implementation of the clearing system.

According to Zussman, total annual transactions for the BSP system in Israel totaled a billion dollars. “You can count the number of travel agents who have been disconnected from the system with one hand,” he added. “We are talking about a tiny number that chose to give up on the license voluntarily.”  

In the near future the Antitrust Authority will discuss IATA’s request to receive exemption from having to renew the authorization for the BSP system annually.

In November 2007 the Travel Agents Associations turned to the Antitrust Authority claiming that the BSP system, setup by IATA, constituted a forbidden cartel of airlines that could strongly influence the market.