If you have clients but no IATA code, you have two ways to issue air tickets. An honest comparison of direct IATA/BSP accreditation versus working through a consolidator.
If you run a small agency in Macedonia with loyal clients who ask for air tickets, sooner or later you arrive at the same calculation: how do you issue those tickets without the administration and cost eating your whole business. There are two realistic paths. This article compares them honestly — without selling you one in advance.
The first option: your own IATA/BSP accreditation
Direct IATA accreditation means your agency gets its own code and can issue tickets directly through airline inventory. It sounds like the clean path — and for an agency with high sales volume, it is.
The problem lies in what sits behind the code. IATA accreditation operates through the BSP system — the Billing and Settlement Plan — which requires the agency to maintain bank guarantees. Those guarantees aren’t symbolic: they grow with your sales volume. The more you sell, the larger the guarantee you must maintain. On top of that come strict payment deadlines and constant financial discipline.
If you fail to maintain the guarantees or miss a payment deadline, the consequence isn’t a warning — IATA locks you out of the system. For a large agency with steady cash flow, this is sustainable. For a small agency with a few employees and variable volume, it’s a burden that often outweighs the benefit. You tie up capital in guarantees instead of the business, and you carry a risk that grows precisely as you grow.
The second option: working through a consolidator
The second option is to work through a consolidator — an agency that already has the IATA/BSP infrastructure and lets you issue tickets through it. You work with your own clients as before; the ticket issuance happens through the consolidator’s accreditation.
What you get: access to the reservation and issuing system without your own IATA code, without bank guarantees, and without BSP obligations in your name. That entire financial and administrative burden stays with the consolidator. You have no airline contracts to maintain, no guarantees to finance, no IATA deadlines to track.
What you pay for it: an agreed fee per ticket to the consolidator. The remainder of the service charge you bill your client stays with you.
A direct comparison
Financial entry. IATA: high — bank guarantees that grow with volume. Consolidator: minimal — you work within an agreement.
Risk. IATA: you carry full financial risk and the risk of lockout on a lapse. Consolidator: the risk is carried by the consolidator.
Administration. IATA: your own tracking of guarantees, deadlines, compliance. Consolidator: the consolidator carries compliance.
Control. IATA: full — your own code, a direct relationship with the airlines. Consolidator: you work through another’s accreditation, but with your own clients and your own brand.
Who it makes sense for. IATA: agencies with high, steady volume that can justify the guarantees. Consolidator: small and mid-sized agencies with real clients but no capacity to carry BSP infrastructure.
The question that actually decides it
It’s not “which model is better” — both are legitimate. The question is: does your sales volume justify the cost and risk of your own bank guarantees?
If you issue hundreds of tickets a month with steady cash flow, your own accreditation starts to make sense. If you issue dozens, or your volume varies by season, the BSP guarantees will tie up capital and carry a risk out of proportion to the benefit. In that case the consolidator isn’t a compromise — it’s the smarter choice that lets you grow without putting your capital on the line.
How we work
Avionet has operated as a consolidator for partner agencies in Macedonia since 2008. Some partners have been with us more than 15 years — not because of a contract, but because the model works: access to Amadeus GDS or a browser-based reservation system, training for your team, technical support when needed, and a clear per-ticket model. No IATA code, no guarantees, no BSP burden in your name.
If you’d like to work out together which model fits your agency — honestly, no pressure — call or send a short enquiry. We’ll look at your numbers and tell you what makes sense.
The terms of IATA/BSP accreditation and bank guarantees change and depend on IATA’s official regulations. This article explains principles; for exact current terms, IATA’s official sources are authoritative.