Tag Archives: Hyderabad

Flight Shop, the flagship retail leisure business of Australia-headquartered Flight Centre Travel Group, opened its first retail store in Hyderabad. This is the first franchise outlet in India and was inaugurated by Rakshit Desai, Managing Director, FCM Travel Solutions and Shravan Gupta, Managing Director, Travel Tours Group. With the launch of this store, FCM now has a total of 17 operational Flight Shop stores across India. Spread over 1500 sq. ft., the Flight Shop outlet in Hyderabad is based at a prime location at Nagarjuna Circle catering to the needs of up market urban consumers – families, business travellers, honeymoon couples and groups of travellers. The new retail outlet will offer travellers Flight Shop’s range of products and services viz., Leisure Travel (Domestic and International Flights, Holidays – Group and Customised, Hotels, Car Transfers, Visa, Cruise holidays, honeymoon holidays, adventure holidays and more) and Foreign Exchange (under the Travel Money brand). Flight Shop’s footprint now extends to a total of 17 stores across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Kochi and Vadodara, via a combination of owned branches and the newly opened franchise outlet.

With an aim to increase tourist footfalls from India, Embassy of Iceland organised and hosted a film tourism conference for the Tamil and Telugu film industries. The event was held in Chennai and Hyderabad on September 20th and 22nd and saw a presence of the top producers and cinematographers from the industry. H.E Thorir Ibsen, Ambassador of Iceland to India attended and addressed the gathering of select producers and cinematographers in both cities. He said, “Iceland has many advantages as a filming location. One among them is the spectacular variety of landscapes and locations found within short distances of one another. The local crews available are well experienced and well trained for producing quality films in tough conditions. Besides these, the incentives for filming in Iceland will be increased from the current 20 per cent to 25% in 2017. We are looking forward to work with many more Indian film-makers and are hoping to see Iceland more often on the big screen.” Kumar Sitaraman, Honorary Consul General of Iceland in Chennai added, “Iceland received 1000+ tourists from India last year. We are hoping that the numbers of tourists from India increases after audiences watch the many impressive landscapes and natural beauty the country has through the big screen.”

Effective October 12, GoAir will commence services from Hyderabad. The new schedule will introduce daily non-stop flights connecting Hyderabad to Chennai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. Hyderabad will also be connected to Port Blair via Bangalore which will provide leisure travelers additional travel option. This latest addition to GoAir network reflects the airline’s phase of growth with a focus on scaling up operations gradually in the coming weeks while strengthening the value proposition to suit customer’s demand. With the new additions of aircraft in coming months, GoAir will operate up to 184 daily flights by the end of December from current 144 daily flights. Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO, GoAir, said, “Hyderabad is a key market in South & Central India and a significant base for business and tourism in the region. Adding Hyderabad with its ideal geographical location, we reinforce our commitments towards connectivity across the country. It is our constant endeavor to provide flexibility of choice to our customers along with on time, convenient and affordable flying experience.”

GMR Airports, the company that runs Delhi and Hyderabad airports, has won the bid to develop and operate a new airport in North Goa. “GMR Airports, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure has won the international competitive bid for development and operation of Mopa Greenfield Airport in North Goa,” as per BSE release. The company is going to built this airport on BOT (Build Operate Transfer) model and the concession period for the said project will be 40 years with a possible extension of another 20 years through a bid process. The letter of award is expected to be issued within 60 days, while signing of concession agreement will be done within 45 days from the date of issuance of award letter.

Tourism Authority of Thailand’s offices in Mumbai and Delhi are in the midst of a four-city roadshow. TAT Delhi began the roadshow with Raipur on August 18 and Bhubaneshwar (August 20) while TAT Mumbai will take the annual initiative to the travel trade in Hyderabad (August 22) and Pune (August 24). “We are taking the Thailand product beyond metros because we are also experiencing huge traffic and interest from these cities,” says Soraya Homchuen, director, TAT Mumbai office. “The focus of the roadshow will be new segments and new regions. In Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata we have already announced our focus on families, women-only holidays, bachelorette parties and luxury-seekers. We have already begun to see traction for new regions such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi, Rayong, Koh Samet, Koh Chang, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan,” adds Homchuen. The Amazing Thailand roadshow will see over a dozen suppliers visit all four cities. Sellers will be briefed on each city’s unique needs and way of doing business, along with demand-related information, trends and connectivity to ensure that they are on the same page as the travel trade who will attend the roadshow. “The focus of the roadshow will be new segments and new regions. In Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata we have already announced our focus on families, women-only holidays, bachelorette parties and luxury-seekers in a clear shift away from bachelor parties and budget holiday makers. Additionally we have showcased and begun to see traction for new regions all over Thailand such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi, Rayong, Koh Samet, Koh Chang, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan,” adds Homchuen. She and the team …

AirAsia will connect Bengaluru with Hyderabad and Goa from September 22. The airline would also operate flights between Bengaluru and Guwahati with daily service. This was announced at the company’s press conference where AirAsia disclosed its plans of expansion of its fleet along with starting new routes in India. As part of the proposed plans, it will induct 20 Airbus A320 aircraft to its India operation. “We want to expand our presence in India as a low cost player. We have put in very careful consideration about where we fly. It must be commercially viable at the end of the day. It is a very young market and will take time to stabilise,” says Amar Abrol, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia India. The company at present has a market share of 2.2 per cent in the domestic business with an average load factor of 86 per cent. “AirAsia has ordered for 100 A320neo. As and when they are added to our fleet we expect those will be added to India operations also,” adds Abrol. He also pointed out that as of now the company is operating a single fleet but is also constantly evaluating other types of aircrafts. “It again depends on the demands in the areas where ATR can fly. There are no immediate plans,” he says. (Source: The Hindu)

In a bid to expand its India portfolio, Paul Gregorowitsch, CEO, Oman Air, said that Oman Air wants to increase its weekly flights from the current 126 from Muscat to 175 weekly flights by 2018. He said, “We currently fly double daily flights to six out of the 11 destinations in India with 21,147 seats. Our current bilateral agreement allows us only so much. If we are allowed more, we will opt to go triple daily to these six same cities namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad as our load factors are already close to 90 per cent thanks to the travel trade.” Gregorowitsch was visiting Mumbai to talk about Oman’s national carrier’s growth, strategy and expansion plans. The airline also hosted its agent partners for a networking and Iftar party. The airline celebrates 23 years of its India operations.

Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems celebrated the foundation laying of a new facility in Hyderabad for its joint venture named TATA Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL). The joint venture has been established to co-produce Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages and other aerostructures, as well as to pursue integrated systems in aerospace. The Hyderabad production facility will eventually be the sole producer of AH-64 fuselages globally. The Apache has been flown or selected for acquisition by the United States and 15 other nations, including India. Participating in the ceremony were Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister, Government of India; K. T. Rama Rao,  Minister of IT and Industries & Commerce, Telangana; and other dignitaries from the Telangana government. “The joint venture between Tata and Boeing is a significant step in developing India’s capabilities for aerospace & defence manufacturing and becoming a global exporter. This is a clear example of the significant progress made towards “Make in India for defence,” said Parrikar, Union Defence Minister. “I am delighted to see Boeing and Tata step forward and make this substantial investment, in defence FDI.” Speaking on the occasion, S. Ramadorai, Chairman of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), said, “Today’s ground-breaking ceremony is a significant milestone in furthering our commitment to the Indian aerospace sector. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 this partnership could boost the emerging manufacturing sector, contributing to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Make in India. I am positive that this joint venture which brings together the core strengths of both companies will help take this strategic relationship to the next level.” “This joint venture is an exciting advancement for Boeing in leveraging our capital and expertise globally,” said Pratyush Kumar, …

National carrier, Air India has become the first airline to launch self check-in kiosks for its domestic fliers that aims to make the check-in process expeditious. The exclusive service presently covers 26 domestic centers at Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Calicut, Coimbatore, Cochin, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nagpur, New Delhi, Mumbai, Mangalore, Raipur, Rajkot, Trivandrum, Udaipur, Visakhapatnam and Varanasi. Under this initiative, started on May 1, 2016, customers can procure the boarding pass by using the self-check-in kiosks also known as CUSS (Common Use Self Service) near the check-in area at the airport.

The FICCI-KPMG ‘India Aviation Report 2016’, launched at the civil aviation exposition in Hyderabad, reveals that with 81 million trips, India’s domestic aviation market grew at over 20.3% during January to December 2015-the highest growth rate recorded in the world. It further said that India is well on its way to become the third largest aviation market by 2020, owing to increasing disposable incomes, fall in prices of Aircraft Turbine Fuel (ATF), increase in tourism, visa reforms, etc. have placed India in a unique position. This is bringing the country closer to achieving its vision of becoming the largest aviation market by 2030. The report highlights that the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2016) is likely to provide a significant fillip to the industry. The various fiscal and monetary incentives, liberal policies focused on ‘ease of doing business’ and enhanced push for regional and global connectivity are extremely positive. Steps taken to revive and operationalise around 160 airports in India, if chosen carefully, will improve air connectivity to regional and remote areas. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the sector will get substantial support from the state in terms of financing, concessional land allotment, tax holidays and other incentives. The report strongly suggests that in order to ensure high-geared growth, it is imperative to broaden the base of domestic flyers through greater air connectivity in Tier 2/3 cities. Many Indian states have taken positive initiatives, largely in the field of development of airports, reduction in sales tax rates on ATF and direct subsidy to airlines for improvement of connectivity. The government and industry are engaged closely in addressing the various opportunities and challenges in the aviation sector; and that’s a welcome sign. …