Under the UDAN scheme of Government of India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) flagged off the first-ever thrice-weekly flight from Indore (Madhya Pradesh) to Kishangarh (Ajmer, Rajasthan). In its constant endeavor to connect the unconnected regions, Ministry of Civil Aviation awarded the Indore-Kishangarh route during the UDAN 3 bidding process to Star Air. With the commencement of this route, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has operationalised 268 routes under the UDAN scheme. Under RCS-UDAN, Star Air is already operating direct flights from Belagavi to Indore and will now extend the same route till Rajasthan, “The land of Colours”. The approximate distance between Indore and Kishangarh is around 550 kilometers and people had to spend more than 10 hours to reach Kishangarh from Indore by road. However, with the commencement of flight operations on this route, people can take one-hour flight and travel at ease and visit the famous Nine Planets temple, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Pushkar Lake, Phool Mahal Palace, Roopangarh Fort, etc. Furthermore, Kishangarh is also known as the Marble City of India and is a big market of red chilies.

Positioned as a Boutique Experiential hotel featuring 72 well-styled rooms, with an all-Day Diner and a Far Eastern rooftop speciality restaurant & a Café with spacious meetings & event venues, The Hideaway, will also become Leisure Hotels group’s first ever property in NCR region. Vibhas Prasad, Director, Leisure Hotels group said, “We are pleased to open The Hideaway, Greater Noida, a hotel that offers experiential business travel in the heart of the city, and in close proximity to Exhibition Centre and Business & Industrial Hub of Greater Noida. The opening of another business hotel is a significant moment for the group. From well-appointed rooms to the multi-cuisine dining options, all aspects of the hotel have been honed to offer guests unparalleled experiences with our familiar, warm & personalised services.”

Airports Council International (ACI) World has emphasised that the COVID-19 outbreak is a systemic crisis affecting the entire global aviation sector impacting particularly heavily on airports and airlines. The sector is in dire need of support to avoid collapse. ACI World Director General Angela Gittens– responding to a letter from SkyTeam CEO and Managing Director Kristin Colville – reassured her that ACI shares the concern about the unprecedented impact the COVID-19 outbreak is having on the entire aviation eco-system. As regards alleviation measures for the industry, ACI World believes a global suspension of the 80/20 rule for a limited period would be appropriate to protect connecting traffic at hub airports and help safeguard connectivity worldwide. It is a fast-moving situation so ACI supports temporary global suspension of the 80/20 rule until 30 June 2020. Flexible assessment on the need to further extend the waiver will be based on data-driven evidence. Airport operators are currently experiencing unprecedented declines in aircraft movements and passenger traffic which significantly hinders their ability to meet their operating costs and their fixed capital expense costs. The financial sustainability of the airport industry is under threat. As such, suspending the collection of charges or granting blanket discounts would make this situation for airport operators even worse. “As an industry, we must come together to meet this unprecedented challenge,” ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said. “Many airports around the World, in particular in Asia and now Europe, face problems of liquidity which raises issues of operational & business continuity. “The situation is set to worsen in the coming weeks and, while we support relief measures, these must be considered on a non discriminatory basis for all affected …

The Lufthansa Group carrier Austrian Airlines will temporarily suspend scheduled flight operations as of Thursday, 19 March 2020. Austrian Airlines is thus reacting to the entry restrictions imposed by many countries in response to the massive spread of the coronavirus. For the time being, the last flight with flight number OS 066 will land in Vienna from Chicago at 8:20 a.m. on 19 March. Until then, flight operations are to be reduced in a controlled and structured manner in order to bring all passengers and crews home if possible. Initially Austrian Airlines will cancel all flights until March 28th 2020, and passengers who have booked a flight with Austrian Airlines during this period will be rebooked on other airlines if possible. In addition, Lufthansa Group airlines will further reduce their short- and long-haul schedule. The cancellations, which will be published as early as tomorrow, March 17th, will lead to a sharp decline in long-haul service especially in the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America. Overall, the Lufthansa Group’s seating capacity on long-haul routes will be reduced by up to 90 per cent. A total of 1,300 weekly connections were originally planned for summer 2020. Within Europe the flight schedule will also be further reduced. Starting tomorrow, around 20 percent of the originally planned seating capacity will still be offered. Originally, some 11,700 weekly short-haul flights were planned for summer 2020 with Lufthansa Group airlines. The additional cancellations will be published over the next few days and passengers will be informed accordingly. Despite the large-scale cancellations, Lufthansa, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines have scheduled more than 20 special flights with over 6,000 guests on short notice to fly cruise passengers …

Given the extraordinary circumstances caused by the worldwide Coronavirus crisis, Brussels Airlines has decided to temporarily suspend its flight operations from 21 March 2020. Between now and then, Brussels Airlines’ flight operations will be reduced gradually in a controlled and structured manner in order to bring passengers and crews home. The decision of Brussels Airlines to temporarily suspend all its flights between 21 March and 20 April has also been taken following the measures imposed by different authorities, such as the negative travel advice of the Belgian authorities, which Brussels Airlines fully understands, and the increasing number of national authorities in Europe and beyond who no longer allow flights to their territory. As of today, 17 March, the airline will gradually reduce its flight schedule until 20 March. From 21 March until 19 April included, all flights will be suspended. A continued and extended goodwill policy for customers is in place, offering them the opportunity to reschedule their flights to a later date. All intercontinental departures to Africa, will as of tomorrow 17 March be postponed to the afternoon, for connectivity reasons with the short haul network. The Belgian carrier will continue to keep a minimal capacity on standby base for repatriation flights should this be required. Brussels Airlines CEO Dieter Vranckx: “We will continuously monitor the situation and communicate accordingly, planning a restart of our operations on 20 April to welcome our guests on board again. As a responsible company, we need to take the decision to temporarily cease our operations. It will allow us to reduce the negative financial impact on our company. “ The spread of the coronavirus and associated flight bans and other measures restricting air …

As per the DGCA advisory to restrict international traffic from Turkey and Malaysia, IndiGo will be cancelling its flights between Delhi-Istanbul and Chennai-Kuala Lumpur from March 18, 2020 until March 31, 2020. The airline has already cancelled flights between Bangalore-Kuala Lumpur until March 31, 2020 and Delhi-Kuala Lumpur until April 30, 2020. These are purely temporary and precautionary measures. We understand that these measures will cause inconvenience to our customers and we will be refunding the full amount to the impacted passengers.

Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has banned the entry of foreign and domestic tourists into the state and shut down public places such as educational institutes till April 15 in view of novel coronavirus outbreak. He also appealed to the people of Sikkim to avoid travelling outside the state unless it is an emergency. There will be a complete ban on visits of even domestic tourists in Sikkim, the chief minister said, adding a notification in this regard will be issued on Tuesday. The Himalayan state is a favourite destination of both domestic and foreign tourists. Over 1.33 lakh foreigners visited Sikkim in 2019, while nearly 12 lakh Indians visited the state till September last year, according to government data. The Tourism Guest House at Rangpo will be converted to a quarantine centre and similar arrangements will be made at Melli, he said. All government and private schools, colleges and universities and public places such as discos, casinos, gyms, fairs and festivals will remain closed till April 15, the chief minister said after a high-level meeting in Gangtok. Students should stay put in Sikkim and refrain from travelling outside even if it means travelling to their home states, Tamang said. He asked people to take these decisions positively as nothing is more important than public health and life.   PTI “Sikkim is fortunate to have not a single case of coronavirus, but we should continue to take all precautionary measures,” the chief minister said. Tamang said the authorities concerned have been directed to store all essential commodities to avoid any shortage in future.

Aviation regulator DGCA has directed all domestic and international carriers to “scrupulously” follow the fresh travel restrictions announced by the government on Monday, which cover countries from the European Union and the UK, and Turkey. With cases of coronavirus swelling in the country, the government on Monday prohibited entry of passengers from EU countries, Turkey and the UK from March 18 till March 31. “Travel of passengers from member countries of the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, Turkey and the UK to India is prohibited with effect from March 18. No airline shall board a passenger from these nations with effect from 1200 GMT on March 18. The airline shall enforce it at the initial port of departure,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a circular. It also said the government has expanded compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days for passengers coming or transiting through Qatar, UAE, Oman and Kuwait and this will also come into effect from 1200 GMT of March 18 at the port of first departure. “Both these restrictions are temporary measures and shall be in force till March 31 and will be reviewed subsequently. “All scheduled Indian and foreign airlines engaged in international transportation to and from India, therefore, are directed to scrupulously follow above advisory and not to carry any passenger in violation thereof,” the DGCA said in the circular.

The UAE government, has announced the suspension of visa services for foreign nationals as a precautionary measure.  As per the instructions received from Federal Authority of Identity and Citizenship, the UAE visa services for all foreign nationals are temporarily suspended. Our visa services will remain suspended till further instructions. Passengers having valid visas issued prior to 17 March 2020 are allowed to travel as per the information received.

Beautiful Soul Travel Company merges its travel businesses with Bangalore based global accommodation provider TravelSync. The merger is part of TravelSync efforts to diversify and increase their market share in western and central India. This alliance will allow us to provide hotel accomodation services to an even wider set of travellers & new customer base in western and central India” says Vishwas Subbaiah MD TravelSync. TravelSync was incorporated in 2010 with the sole intent of providing Business travellers the best available accomodation options within their travel budget. Beautiful Soul founded by Hotelier Rajan Kalra in 2018, have innovated and grown to providing bespoke travel solutions to travellers. Vishwas and I saw a great opportunity to join forces and I am excited that this merger enables all of us to continue a great journey together as the leading travel service provider in India” said Kalra