Late last year, International Passenger Protection Ltd (IPP), along with local partner Orient Insurance, introduced the Default Insurance Policy (Dip) – an attractive alternative to bank guarantees – to International Air Transport Association (Iata) travel agents in Dubai. (Iata, at its last regional Agency Programme Joint Council, approved Orient Insurance backed by IPP as an insurance option to bank guarantees for the Gulf region.)
For a considerable number of years, Iata agents in the Gulf have only been able to provide bank guarantees to Iata as security in order to sell air tickets, while other markets have had the alternative option of insurance. Bank guarantees are both restrictive and expensive for the agent community, with such security getting harder to obtain putting unnecessary strain on agents, so the agreement by Iata to introduce this insurance initiative has been widely welcomed by agents.The joint meeting hosted by Dubai Travel and Tour Agents Group (DTAGG) and Sharjah Travel Agents Association (STAA) saw Paul Mclean, managing director of IPP (UK) present agents with details of the Dip, which was pioneered by IPP over 20 years ago by CEO Brian Mclean (previously an Iata travel agent himself of over 25 years). This new alternative to bank guarantees is expected to launch April 1 this year. Further region-wide formal pre-launch presentations will be made early this year, with the policy being available to all Iata agents in the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.'This is a very significant step by Iata, airlines and agents to make Dip available in this region. It will greatly benefit all parties, giving the agent community a less onerous option to providing security while providing airlines with a more comfortable and flexible form of security,' explains Mclean.Rather than having to put up cash or asset security such as an agent’s home, the insurance option offers a simplified form of providing security while providing a much more cost-effective solution. Agents can now join a scheme that not only allows them to pay for cover as they trade but only pay for cover according to their sales rather than overpay for a guarantee when sales are less than expected. Also the flexibility of the insurance option allows agents to increase their sales while automatically increasing cover to Iata and the airlines as the same time.