BUSINESS NEWS
Air India boss quits amid turbulent time for airline
Air India boss Campbell Wilson quit unexpectedly last week, adding to the sense of turbulence in India’s aviation sector after IndiGo chief Pieter Elbers resigned last month. IndiGo and Air India are the
country’s biggest carriers. Wilson had run Air India since
Indian conglomerate Tata acquired the carrier in 2022, having joined from Singapore Airlines. He initiated rapid restructuring
and placed orders for more than 500 aircraft. But the crash of a London-bound
Air India Boeing 787 on take-off from Ahmedabad in June last year, which left 260 dead, cast a shadow over the airline. A preliminary
Campbell Wilson
Booking.com ordered to highlight source of hotels’ star ratings
crash report found cockpit switches controlling the flow of fuel to the engines had been turned to the cut- off position shortly after take-off. A final report is awaited. But
Air India has since been pulled up over safety lapses by India’s aviation regulator. The airline declined to comment
on the resignation, but said Wilson would remain in the role until a successor had been appointed. IndiGo has recruited Iata
director general Willie Walsh to take over from July.
A legal ruling against Booking. com in the Netherlands on how hotel star ratings are displayed online requires the accommodation platform to explain the origin of ratings to avoid misleading consumers. The decision last week
by the College van Beroep (CvB) appeals board of the Dutch Advertising Code Commission (RCC) – equivalent of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority – confirmed that hotel star ratings may mislead consumers if it’s not clear whether the rating is determined by an official classification authority, self-assigned by the hotel or derived from a non-verified system.
Booking must now disclose
the source of all star ratings and whether they are verified. The RCC ruled last November that Booking’s presentation of star ratings was misleading when the source was not disclosed, following complaints by hotel associations in the Netherlands and Germany. The appeals board ruled that
hotel classifications must be accompanied by clear information on how star ratings are assigned, based on verified classification systems or self-declared by hotels. It noted hotel star ratings are
widely perceived as objective and standardised indicators.
BTA slams Ryanair booking terms Ian Taylor
The Business Travel Association has warned new booking terms imposed by Ryanair present “substantial barriers” to travel management companies (TMCs) and their clients and could “limit access”. The BTA said the new terms
“create hurdles for TMCs to deliver core services” and reported it had raised “serious concerns” with Ryanair in relation to “liability, post- booking servicing, refund processes and data protection” to which it said the carrier had failed to respond. The association noted TMCs
“are now required to obtain express passenger consent and use Ryanair’s Travel Agent Direct platform for all post-booking changes rather than the original GDS booking tool” by terms
travelweekly.co.uk
that “prioritise airline commercial models at the expense of passenger safety and corporate efficiency”. Implementation of the terms has
varied by GDS provider. The deadline for Sabre and Travelport users was March 31; for Amadeus it is May. The BTA wrote to Ryanair in
October 2025 setting out its concerns and said it had subsequently sought to engage with the carrier “on behalf of member TMCs and their corporate customers”, but Ryanair “declined to engage and proceeded with implementation of these terms”. BTA chief executive Clive Wratten
said: “Employers must be able to include airlines in travel programmes without creating blind spots in service, safety or audit.” He warned: “Some TMCs may conclude they can’t accept the terms
on commercial, operational or compliance grounds. Ryanair content may no longer be available through parts of the managed travel channel and TMCs may direct customers towards alternative carriers.” The BTA pointed out TMCs
“help employers meet essential obligations around duty of care, traveller tracking, policy compliance, disruption management, reporting and financial reconciliation [which] complement the airline product by making it possible for employers to book and manage travel safely, efficiently and at scale”. It said Ryanair’s new terms “create
barriers to delivering those functions in the way employers and business travellers expect” and warned this “raises practical questions about whether TMCs can continue to
Ryanair’s new terms ‘create hurdles for TMCs’
provide the consistent servicing, support and oversight that employers require, particularly during delays, cancellations or other disruption. “It may also create additional
operational and financial exposure for TMCs and their clients in areas such as refund handling, servicing, responsibility and compliance.” Ryanair has been approached for
comment. 16 APRIL 2026 47
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