British Airways is not actively seeking to impose stricter payment terms on Iata-accredited suppliers and business travel agents, according to its chief commercial officer.
Drew Crawley said the current Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), which requires accredited agents to pay airlines via Iata, was effective in the UK marketplace.
Industry sources said some major airlines were pushing for the UK to be brought in line with other European markets where agents remit weekly instead of monthly.
“We are not one of the airlines behind this latest debate so we have a measured response,” said Crawley. “At the moment we ask agents to remit monthly. It gives them 50 days of credit, which is pretty generous.”
He pointed out BA had to balance exposure to agents failing to pay with “oiling the market” and making current processes operate smoothly.
“We are concerned by the number of defaults in the UK. The UK stands out as one of the worst offenders across global marketplaces. But we are mindful [the system] works quite well.”
Crawley said the cost of administering weekly remittance might not justify the change. However, if a new frequency were to be introduced, BA would insist on a staged transition.
“If there were still a high volume of defaults, we’d look at where they were happening and address it that way.”
But Crawley does not believe a change could be implemented without BA’s support. “It would be difficult. The motion could go through one of the first stages, but not much further. The home carrier holds the sway,” he said. “We want to protect our business and those of the sector. I hope the agency community give us a bit of credit for that.”