Kolkata: Dropping the first bombshell on European carriers operating out of India, nearly 30,000 travel agents across the country would stop selling tickets of German airline Lufthansa from July 27 in protest against the slash in ticket commission from seven per cent to five per cent.

The protest programme being spearheaded by four major associations -- Travel Agents' Association of India (TAAI) Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), Indian Agents Tour Operators (IATO) and Association of Domestic Tour Operators (ADTO) - follows a long time dissatisfaction by the bodies over the issue.

Representatives of the bodies would take a resolution to the effect in regional meetings to be held all across the country tomorrow, TAFI eastern India Chairman Anil Punjabi told in Kolkata today (July 23, 2004).

"After the German airline, we would boycott all other European carriers from next week onwards if they do not revert their decision to cut down the ticket commission," he said.

The agents were not willing to wait any further since the cutting down of commission rates was not simply telling on their volume of business but also forcing employers in the sector to downsize.

European airlines -- British Airways, Swiss Air, Air France, Lufthansa, Al Italia and KLM -- had unilaterally decided to cut down the ticket commission from September on grounds of creating parity with European markets.

"India should be treated at par with the eastern countries, where they still continue to pay the old commission rates and not with the European market," Punjabi said.