KUALA LUMPUR: Travel agents will be charging at least RM20 (S$8.57) more for a return air ticket to any international destination under a new booking fee ruling that involves Malaysian Airlines.

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) vice-president (ticketing), K. Thangavelu, said MAS had informed them that the new ruling would take effect from May 15.

Travel agents who issue tickets without using the Abacus-operated global distribution system (GDS), which provides global communications and electronic distribution of information for travel service providers, would have to pay the additional booking fee.

"Currently, there are three main GDS providers in the market - Abacus, Amadeus and Galileo," he told a press conference here yesterday.

He said that the new ruling only applied to Malaysian travel agents, but such a notice was not issued to their counterparts in other parts of the world including in Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

Thangavelu said its members had strongly objected to the new ruling and wanted it to be withdrawn.

"We will be meeting senior management officials in MAS on Monday and hope the issue can be resolved," he said, adding that currently, 65% of Matta members booked tickets through non-Abacus GDS.

MAS senior general manager, sales and marketing, Datuk Bernard Francis, said that it had 623 appointed travel agents. Of these, 78% were already on Abacus.

GDS is a system which allows travel agents to book air tickets all over the world.