530 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM the sales of air tickets. The four cases were also filed against IATA for any interest that it may have had in the said proceedings4. This paper shall discuss the conclusions and final judgements reached by the Civil Court (Maltese Courts), on 27 June 2019, as there were no appeals filed by either party from the said judgements. 2. FACTS OF THE CASES IATA accredited travel agents operating in Malta were informed through a letter received separately from the four airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft, Austrian Airline AG, Brussels Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines Ltd., that as from 1 July 2017, the commission payable to them for the selling of airline tickets, was to be reduced from 1% to 0.1%. The reduction of the commission had been decreasing over the years since 1999 when, at that time, it was 9%, and as a consequence of the airlines’ decision, it was further reduced to merely 0.1%. 3. FILING OF JUDICIAL CASES BY FATTA IN THE CIVIL COURT In their application submitted to the Civil Court, the travel agents, through FATTA, argued that a 0.1 % commission on the selling of airline tickets was ridiculously low and that they were seriously considering not to sell airline tickets anymore since it was not financially feasible, nor worth the risk of selling such airline tickets. It is pertinent to emphasise that Malta is an island, a Member State of the European Union and, therefore, it depends highly on air transportation. In its application, FATTA further submitted that the relative reduction also went against Article 9 of Resolution 824 of the Passenger Sales Agency Agreement 4 The Four cases filed were: a) Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA) vs. Brussels Airlines and International Air Transport Association for any interest that it might have (Sworn Application Number 609/2017); b) Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA) vs. Austrian Airlines AG and International Air Transport Association for any interest that it might have (Sworn Application Number 610/2017); c) Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA) vs. Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. and International Air Transport Association for any interest it might have (Sworn Application Number 611/2017); and d) Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA) vs. Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft and International Air Transport Association for any interest that it might have (Sworn Application Number 612/2017).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==