Up to 500 jobs could be lost in the Irish travel agency business if Aer Lingus proceeds with plans to cut travel agents' income on ticket sales to 5 per cent, the Irish Travel Agents' Association (ITAA) said.
The ITAA also said it was considering taking a case against Aer Lingus on competition grounds, claiming the airline's decision to cut its commission rates was an abuse of its dominant position.
Half of all airline tickets sold by ITAA members are on behalf of Aer Lingus, while the airline's membership of the OneWorld alliance brings that figure closer to 80 per cent, according to Mr Tony Brazil, president of the ITAA.
"It has a large share of the market and we are building our case around that," said Mr Brazil. But an Aer Lingus spokesman said its move was pro-consumer and pro-competition.
Over the past 11 months, the national carrier had slashed Irish travel agents' income on ticket sales from 9 per cent to 5 per cent, a drop in income of 44 per cent, the ITAA said.
Aer Lingus' head of sales and marketing, Mr Seamus Kearney, said the cut in travel agents' commissions was but one element of the airline's overall cost reduction strategy .
