ACTA, WTAAA meet with travel industry

Following several meetings this week, the Association of Canadian Travel Agents and their counterparts in the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance held an event welcoming members of the travel industry to meet with representatives from both organizations.

According to ACTA chair/COO David McCaig, the week was marked by a series of “excellent meetings” on issues affecting the worldwide travel industry, which welcomed WTAAA members from all corners of the globe.

Jayson Westbury, the chair of the WTAAA and a member of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, said that perhaps the biggest issue the organization is tackling currently is the matter of fuel surcharges, adding that some progress has been made in Australia with carriers such as Virgin and Qantas in removing the charges out of the airfare equation.

McCaig told PAXnews.com that another matter currently under discussion is the issuing of large volumes of agency debit memos by some airlines around the world, a matter which he said the WTAAA has taken to the International Air Transport Association. Overall, the meetings offer a chance for the two organizations a chance to “compare notes” on how particular matters are handled and see which approach is more successful.

Duncan Bureau, Air Canada’s VP of global sales, also spoke during the presentation, providing an update on the carrier’s current refleeting process, which has so far seen 10 B787s brought on for some of Air Canada’s Asia and Europe routes, with an option of bringing in another 40 of the aircraft. Regarding the carrier’s narrow-body fleet, Bureau said that there are 135 B737 MAX aircraft currently on order for a 2016 delivery.

PHOTO: David McCaig, president/COO, ACTA; Duncan Bureau, VP – global sales, Air Canada; Jayson Westbury, chair – WTAAA; Robert Durant, chair, ACTA board of directors.