The Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) expects to have details nailed down in June on a major overhaul of the Agency Reporting Agreement, the document that defines agency-airline relationships.

Mike Premo

Changes to the agreement will be the most comprehensive in several years, ARC president Mike Premo told Travel Market Report.

Neither side – agencies or airlines – is completely happy about the new Agency Reporting Agreement, but both sides do see some improvements, according to Premo. “That tells me that it must be right, and we’ll have a deal.”

Sale of ARC numbers at issue
Among the issues being examined is the “sale” of ARC numbers.

Airlines have objected to “pseudo sales” in which larger agencies allow smaller entities to use their ARC numbers to boost the larger agency’s volume, while providing larger incentives to the smaller agency.

At the same time, ARC’s accreditation rules have made it difficult for agencies to acquire other agencies that continue to exist as separate entities. Those rules are still based on the home office-branch office structure.

The new agreement will provide more flexibility to agencies on this front, according to Premo. “We’re going to redefine the sale of an agency and the sale of an ARC number,” he said. “It’s been a long time since this was revisited.”