China Southern Airlines, one of the three major state-owned carriers in China, has redefined a set of regulations and requirements on its authorized domestic distribution. Main items are as follows:
1) China Southern will be re-signing distribution agreements with all ticketing agents shortly. Under the new agreement, applicants for the carrier’s accredited distribution will be required to own a selling channel such as a travel agency, a proprietary booking website, a contracted corporate customer or a call center.
2) Starting from July 1, China Southern will pay agent fees according to flight segments in lieu of Z Value (“Z值”) and domestic rebate. Details on fixed fees and payment methods for domestic sales will be announced in further notice.
3) Starting from July 1, all ticketing agents are prohibited from selling the carrier’s standard products (single-trip, round-trip, open-jaw tickets and ticket packages with low-value standardized add-ons such as insurance or coupon) through third-party channels such as C-end or B-end platforms. Packaged or portfolio contents with China Southern tickets are required to be approved by the carrier before they can be distributed on third-party platforms that have authorized agreements from the airlines.
China Southern has earlier removed all its contents from both the website and the app of Qunar, the country's second largest online travel agency which has kept its brand after merging with OTA giant Ctrip. (Translated by Jerry)
