For Liu Dongliang, General Manager of Taiyuan Longzhizhou Aviation Service Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dragon Boat")，The year since the second half of 2016，The changes are huge。

This year，Many of his peers spent their lives in loss and despair，Another group of colleagues are trying to find a way to survive in the cracks。

This year，Liu Dongliang does not earn as much money as before，But it increased the number of sales employees in the company from 2 to 14，And decided to put the money earned in the future，They are all invested in the promotion of a system called "OK"。

This time one year ago，This is the beginning of earth-shaking changes in the domestic air ticket sales market，The issuance standard of air ticket agency fees has changed from front-end and back-end refund to fixed amount，Cliff-like decline in commissions，Let the ticket agents who are at the center of the 500 billion annual ticket sales market，We are all faced with the confusion of how to survive in the future。

Airlines leading this change，is also vigorously promoting the construction of its own direct sales platform，Hope to shorten the distribution chain，Put more customers in your own hands，However，The road is not that smooth。

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Liu Dongliang has been working in the ticket sales industry for 11 years，When I first entered this field in 2006，To obtain the qualification of a ticket sales agent，A lot of it depends on finding connections，However，It was also a good time for air ticket agents to make a lot of money。

Because the Internet is not developed，Many ticket agents can make money by relying on opaque information。Rent a storefront near an office building，Employees hand out business cards around the area，Issuing tickets through the airline after accumulating customers，Send someone to deliver the tickets，Complete the closed loop of ticket sales easily。

At the beginning，Liu Dongliang’s office space is not big either，Small room of 10 square meters，Recruited a few people，Mainly doing business by answering the phone。At that time，80% of airline tickets are sold through agents，Every time an agent sells a ticket，You can get at least 3% rebate (Z value of agency fee)。Due to the different sales capabilities of each ticket agent，Airlines will also give better rebate policies to agents with better sales to reward sales，That is, on the basis of 3%, there is also X return。

around 2007，Electronic tickets are gradually becoming more popular，This gives Internet companies the opportunity to intervene in the ticket sales industry，51book and other air ticket B2B distribution platforms are beginning to appear，OTAs such as Ctrip and consumer-oriented search platforms such as Qunar are also coming to the forefront。

After，Aviation sales agents place tickets on the B-side platform for agents，Purchased by other ticket agents，Then it was put on various C-side platforms targeting more customers，Repeatedly，Finally bought by the 188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino customer，This has also formed a unique air ticket sales pattern in China，Some tickets are sold up to nine times before being sold to customers。

Liu Dongliang also tried to sell air tickets on the platform，But then he found out，If sold according to the formal method，The effect is not ideal。Due to the various agents gathered on the platform，Different agents want to win in the "supply and sales" of the same flight，The most effective method is to do everything possible to make your selling price lower than other suppliers (including airline direct stores)。

In order to achieve the goal of making money at a low price，Many agents have "innovated" endless illegal methods，Including betting cancellations and changes、Illegal placement of large account policy、Reselling miles、Selling "abandoned tickets"、Vacated seat、Proactively look for loopholes in airline revenue rules, etc.。

This air ticket sales pattern will continue until 2016，Tear-shaking changes began to occur。February of the current year，The Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the "Notice on Issues Concerning Domestic Air Passenger Transport Sales Agency Fees"，Require air transport companies to entrust sales agents to sell domestic passenger tickets，The benchmark quota for passenger transport fees must be reasonably determined。This is the biggest change for ticket agents，Get a certain rebate from every ticket sold (now only the last one is left)，Change to give a certain fixed reward for every ticket sold。

In fact，In recent years, air ticket agencies have mainly relied on agency fees as their source of income，Profits have been shrinking。Each airline in July 2014、February 2015、Three times in June 2015，It took one year to reduce the agency fee to 0，Many agents selling air tickets can only get a pitiful return。

And starting from July 2016，I can’t get it even after I return，Agency fee becomes based on the number of flight segments，And refer to the different quota standards for different sales classes。For example，The three major state-owned airlines、Hainan Airlines、The first echelon headed by Xiamen Airlines，40% off (inclusive)~20% off air tickets，The agency fee is 10 yuan per flight segment，20% off (inclusive) ~ full price economy class air tickets，The agency fee is 15 yuan per flight segment;Shenzhen Airlines、Shandong Airlines、Sichuan Airlines and other second-tier teams，Increase 5~10 yuan for different sales classes。

Meanwhile，The four major airlines also prohibit agents from reporting to Ctrip、Qunar, waiting for C platform supply，Xiamen Airlines、Sichuan Airlines、Shandong Airlines、Small and medium-sized airlines such as Shenzhen Airlines allow "whitelist" supply，That is, allowing some agents to supply goods to the platform in a managed manner。This also further reshaped the traditional ticket sales channel。

After the New Deal: The ticket shuffling is in progress

In the blink of an eye, the New Deal has been implemented for one year，What changes have occurred in the 500 billion air ticket sales market?？Liu Dongliang’s direct feeling is，Ticket sales are still increasing，The profits received have decreased。

The reporter consulted a number of air ticket agencies including OTA，If selling a ticket through a call center，Comprehensive calculation operator、Issuance of tickets、Ticket delivery cost、After-sales and advance capital costs，And rent, water and electricity、Telephone charges、Employee、After taxes and other costs，The direct cost of selling a ticket will reach 17 yuan，Even through online sales，The cost should also reach 14~16 yuan，This is compared with the standard handling fee of 30% to 20% off for air tickets, which accounts for more than 188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino 90% of the air ticket sales market，It can be said that many ticket agency companies cannot make ends meet。

Liu Dongliang also confessed，The fixed handling fee currently received from the airline，Can only account for 25% of income，More profit sources are selling insurance、Front row seat selection、Airport priority lane、Hotel、Income from value-added products such as cruise ships，Especially insurance income is a big part。

This is due to the support of "repeat customers" accumulated by Dragon Boat over the past ten years。I don’t list my tickets for sale on the platform like many of my peers，Liu Dongliang has always insisted on using his own customer service staff to serve local customers，Until now，The two largest rooms in Dragon Boat’s 700-square-meter headquarters in Taiyuan，It is still used by 60 employees responsible for ticket booking and ticket issuance operations，The customer service hotline can be connected by 60 people at the same time，If you need an air ticket itinerary, the ticket will be delivered to your door。

Although this way of making money is relatively slow，But it is also easier to gain recognition from relatively high-end customers。Today，Many of Dragon Boat’s “repeat customers” are from the Shanxi Provincial Department of Justice、Bank of Communications、Shanxi large enterprises and institutions such as Xishan Coal and Electricity，Occupies 70% of Shanxi’s business air ticket market。

In comparison，Many ticket agents who once had huge sales were not so lucky。For example, HNA has only 30 authorized agents in Shanxi (the number was 160 a year ago)，80% of them are issuing tickets one after another。

Reporter from China Southern Airlines (600029.SH) Internal data obtained are also displayed，After July last year,There are more than 2,500 ticket agents authorized by China Southern Airlines，More than 400 fewer than in previous years，Judging from the distribution of agent size in June this year，It turned out that it mainly relied on Xiang B、The number of large-scale agents supplying products on C-side platforms to obtain sales has significantly decreased year-on-year，At the same time, with the reduction of agency fees，And the continuous increase in operating costs，Some small-scale micro-agents have begun to withdraw from the market，And medium-sized agents with a level of 100,000 to 5 million，In particular, the number of agents in the 100,000 to 1 million level has increased significantly，Most of them are also like dragon boats，Directly controls a stable source of customers。

“We had internal guidelines when we formulated the new agency fee policy last year，Require all units to tilt their agency fees towards direct-customer agents，Support those who really have customers、Agent who creates value for passengers。" Li Dongliang, general manager of China Southern Airlines Sales Department, told reporters，The result after one year is，The sales order regulations have not had a significant impact on the company’s ticket sales，Passenger load factor and seat revenue have increased year-on-year，The number of marketing complaints about distribution channels received by the company’s customer service center also dropped by 41%。

Airlines and platforms: competing for real customers

Many airline marketing personnel also revealed to reporters，At present，The adjustment of channel management and control model in the past year has mainly focused on diverting passengers from traditional air ticket agents、The B-side wholesale platform has been moved to OTA、TMC、Real passenger portals such as airline 188bet online sports betting official websites，This has also brought about the continuous increase in the proportion of airline direct sales。

Reporters checked the 2017 semi-annual reports of the three major state-owned airlines and found out，China Southern Electronics direct sales revenue increased by 64% year-on-year.9%，China Eastern Airlines’ direct sales revenue increased by 29% year-on-year.4%，Direct sales revenue proportion increased by 9% year-on-year.4 percentage points，Air China has not disclosed direct sales related data，But in the first quarter financial report of 2017，The proportion of direct sales has reached 41.6%。This is in line with the 2015 State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission’s proposal that “the direct sales ratio of the three major state-owned airlines should increase to 50% in the next three years，The goal of reducing agency fees by 50% based on 2014，Not far behind。

However，According to reporter’s understanding，Although the current direct sales ratio of the three major airlines has increased significantly year-on-year，But except the airline official website、Call Center、Except self-operated counters and other self-owned channels，Nearly half of them come from Ctrip、Flying Pig、Flagship store opened on Qunar and other platforms。

At the same time as the new agency fee policy is implemented，Many non-self-operated ticket agent products on platforms such as Ctrip and Alibaba are also offline at the same time，This is related to the “prohibition of supplier sales model of ticket standard products” required by the four major airlines，After this，On the one hand, platforms directly sign agency agreements with airlines，Selling self-operated products，On the other hand, it is attracting airlines to open "directly operated" flagship stores on the platform。

“If an airline makes its own official website、app and other direct sales，We need to support a technical team、Marketing Team，We still need to maintain the server、Anti-virus, etc.，I know that the sales cost of a hundred yuan ticket for a certain major airline in the first two years was 1.4 yuan，At present, airlines that set up flagship stores on Fliggy charge based on a few thousandths of the transaction volume。" Hu Chenjie, vice president of Fliggy, pointed out to reporters，Currently, the number of Fliggy’s self-operated stores on Shanghai Airlines has reached more than 70。

According to reporter’s understanding，Set up flagship stores on platforms such as Fliggy，It is up to the airlines to decide what to sell，How much does it cost (cabin)，And to whom it is sold，Fliggy and others as trading platforms，The transaction fee is charged，However, each company’s charging standards are different。

But many airlines also disclosed to reporters，The current fee paid to open a flagship store on the platform，Lower than the fixed fee for traditional agents，This also means，If you rely solely on airline flagship stores to operate the air ticket segment，OTAs and platforms gain more from product richness and user stickiness，Instead of actually making money，This is also why OTAs have been frequently criticized recently for binding hotels with air ticket products、The direct reason why it is difficult to cancel when car rental and other coupons are sold together。

The air ticket class policies posted by airlines on the platform are actually different，For example, China Eastern Airlines、China Southern Airlines and others have the same lowest cabin class on their official website and platform flagship store，But there will be further discounts for members on the official 188bet app download website，The domestic low-cost airline Spring Airlines always keeps the cheapest air tickets on its official website and app。

The best price on the official website has indeed attracted many price-sensitive customers，But it also attracted "brick movers"。Teng Yang, deputy general manager of the marketing and sales department of Western Airlines, another low-cost airline, once stated frankly，The company’s direct sales ratio is now 70%，The official website is 65%，Only 5% of tickets are through OTA including counter、Sold by call center，“But inside the 65%，True direct sales passengers may be less than 10%，The rest are all done by agents to ‘move the bricks’，Many are even captured through technology and then put on the platform for sale，The user bought a ticket and thought the service was all-inclusive，After arriving at the airport, I realized that I had to buy everything。”

“We have been doing direct sales for so many years，Once sold directly for the sake of direct selling，There has also been a situation where the left hand beat the right hand in the direct sales channel，Now we find out，Airlines cannot do this just because they are resource providers，Just rely on low fares to win over customers。”Air China (601111.SH) Huang Feng, deputy general manager of the sales department, pointed out，Which channel will future passengers choose to purchase tickets on，Depends on when the channel provider sells this ticket，What additional value can be provided to guests。

In order to retain real customers，Airlines are also trying their best to provide more "extra value" including abnormal flight cancellation and change services。

For example, China Southern Airlines began to implement the “China Southern Airlines E-Travel” strategy at the beginning of this year，Established 13 project teams，Comprehensively connect passengers with travel planning and ticket booking、Departure to the airport、At the airport、Flying、Arrived at destination、A total of 329 links after the end of the trip，Hope to cancel or change the ticket、Seat selection check-in、Improve direct sales by improving real services and products such as flight updates，Increase user stickiness。The company even requires maintenance and other positions to upload the dynamics of the aircraft before takeoff to the app，So that passengers anxiously waiting for takeoff can have a more detailed understanding of their flight status。We also plan to display the seat distribution map of the aircraft model in the future，Allow customers to intuitively feel the differences between different cabin classes through videos or pictures。

Many airline sales management also pointed out to reporters，After reaching the 50% target of direct sales ratio required by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission，The main focus will still be on its own official website、The actual improvement of real direct sales channels such as apps。But with OTA、Platform comparison，The airline’s official website or app cannot compare prices for the same route from different airlines，The lack of IT technology and Passenger Service System (PSS) can even affect the basic transaction experience，There are indeed many areas for improvement。

The transformation and solution of air ticket agency

It’s not just airlines eager to make changes，There are still ticket agents like Dragon Boat who are still persisting。

Reporters learned and found out，Air ticket agents who are still alive，In addition to relying on selling insurance (if a passenger purchases a ticket at an OTA or agency and also buys the 188bet sports betting app download aviation insurance provided by this company，The rebate you can get from this company can reach up to 90% or more) or through international air tickets that still have agency fees，Even taking advantage of various policies to make a profit，Many are trying to transform into travel service providers or travel management。

For example, Meiya Group, which previously focused on B2B wholesale of international air tickets，Extended the two new business sectors of Meiya Travel and Meiya Business Travel，Hu Jingming, the company’s brand manager, told reporters，Meiya has increased investment in business travel management system and other technologies since 2013，Although Meiya Air Travel is a large seller of international air tickets in the B2B channel across the country，But the current profit margin of the business travel sector is higher than that of the air travel sector，In the future, we will also focus on developing the business travel sector。

Compared with ticket sales for C-side，Business travel market mainly for corporate customers，It is still a virgin land that has not been deeply developed in China，A business travel management company that truly charges net price + service fee model like foreign countries，hereinafter referred to as "TMC") the number is not large，Therefore, many agents who were wholesalers of air tickets，They are all trying to transform to TMC。

AVIC Service, the first air passenger transport agency in mainland China, is one of the earliest ticket agencies to transform business travel services，Company general manager Zhao Jianmin told reporters，As the government has strengthened the assessment of centralized procurement in recent years，Many central enterprises have begun to proactively require travel control，The company will send special personnel to search for travel bidding announcements across the country every day，“As enterprises pay more and more attention to compliance，There are more and more bidding projects。”

Shanghai Hengshun is also working hard in the business travel field，Although the company's technical team has increased to 15 people，But Chairman Ding Weijie still thinks，From ticket wholesale to TMC，The biggest worry is the system。

Such worries，It also allowed TravelSky, which is good at technology, to see new market opportunities。As a state-owned enterprise that has long-term provided distribution system and departure system support for airlines，TravelSky’s agent specializes in expanding business travel business，Developed an online travel system called "OK"，And gradually embedded in ticket booking、Hotel、train ticket、Car rental and other resources，The sales will be completed after the agent guides the corporate customers to register and log in，This pair looks like a dragon boat、For agents such as Shanghai Hengshun who do not have strong technical strength，No doubt it saves a lot of technology development costs。

In Liu Dongliang’s opinion，"OK" with the Internet gene，This is Dragon Boat who still relies on phone booking to get out of Shanxi、An important weapon to expand new profit models and customer resources，He also became a volunteer salesman for "Okay"，All the profits from last month were invested in the red envelope promotion to attract customers to register "OK"。

“The era of making quick money is over，The holes for opportunism will be blocked one by one，Calm down and do the market、Make products、Service is the only way，This industry also needs craftsman spirit。" Liu Dongliang said，From this perspective，2017 is also a new year for the air ticket agency industry。

188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino *Source of this article: China Business News，Author: Chen Shanshan，Original title: "The 500 billion air ticket market has changed, and ticket agencies are trying to survive》.