Tag Archives: New Delhi

WOW air has launched three weekly flights from New Delhi to Iceland. According to the airline, it will operate three weekly flights from New Delhi, connecting passengers to North America and Europe through its hub in Iceland. Post the announcement of WOW air in India in May earlier this year, the airline also began its fully functional booking office in New Delhi and recruited Indian crew, a first for any international airline operating out of India. Kiran Jain, Managing Director, WOW air, said, “Our ultra-low fares reflect the need for affordable travel from India to transatlantic destinations. It also gives an opportunity for Iceland to open up to the world and as a tourist destination to Indian travellers. Staying true to our mission of enabling everyone to fly by offering reasonably low fares to our destinations, we are hopeful that more people will have an opportunity to fly around the world.” At present, the airline has four fare options including “WOW basic, WOW plus, WOW comfy and WOW premium”.

Jazeera Airways has announced the launch of its services to New Delhi from December 15. The airline, which commenced operations in India last year, currently flies to Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kochi and Ahmedabad from the Gulf nation. The airline has also announced special one-way fare starting from Rs 10,599 for an Economy Class journey and Rs 19,146 for Business Class travel on the new route. Rohit Ramachandran, Chief Executive Officer, Jazeera Airways, said, “The introduction of services to New Delhi and the expansion of network will bring more choice to travellers to and from India, connecting them to Kuwait and other cities in the Gulf and the Middle East that are served within the airline’s network.” Source: PTI

With an average load factor exceeding 80 per cent and the increased demand on Air India’s New Delhi-Tel Aviv flight services, the national carrier has added a fifth weekly flight starting November 26, 2018. The airline will now fly five days a week including Monday in addition to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday on the 256-seater Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft departs from New Delhi at 16:50 pm and arrives in Tel Aviv at 20:45 pm (local time). On its return leg, the flight departs from Tel Aviv at 22:15 pm and lands in Delhi on the following day at 8:15 am. In addition to Air India’s announcement, Israeli carrier El Al has introduced a new Boeing 777-200ER aircraft on its Mumbai-Tel Aviv route. The new airplane has a capacity of 279 seats in a four-class configuration of First, Business, Economy Plus and Economy. El Al is the only airline currently servicing the direct Mumbai-Tel Aviv sector with three weekly non-stop flights. The aircraft departs at 12:20 pm every Sunday, Monday and Thursday from Mumbai and arrives in Tel Aviv at 16:50 pm (local time). On its return leg, the plane departs from Tel Aviv at 20:15 pm every Saturday and Sunday to land in Mumbai on the following day at 7:30 am. On Thursdays, the flight takes off at 8:30 am from Tel Aviv to reach Mumbai at 19:45 pm. These announcements have come at a time when Israel Ministry of Tourism has recorded a growth of 58 per cent with 48,800 Indian arrivals to the country from January to September 2018 vis-à-vis 30,800 Indian visitors during the same period in 2016.

Air Italy has announced its entry into the Indian market, offering services from Delhi and Mumbai to Milan effective December 7 and December 14, 2018 respectively. Connecting Italy to two of the main business destinations in Asia, India will be the fourth international addition to the Air Italy network after the successful launch of its operations to New York, Miami and Bangkok from its new hub in Milan-Malpensa. Rossen Dimitrov, Chief Operating Officer, Air Italy said, “We look forward to the connection between Italy and two of the main business and tourist destinations in Asia – Mumbai and New Delhi. With the launch of our India operations in December, we are excited to offer newer routes and a wider travel option to the discerning travelers from India. Our new service will increase convenience for business guests, leisure travellers as well as students, travelling between India and Italy, further strengthening commerce as well as tourism ties between the two countries.” With the addition of the two new routes, Air Italy offers travellers a range of both domestic and international connectivity options from the airline’s hub and access to exclusive destinations. Passengers travelling from India to Milan will benefit from convenient connections via Malpensa to Italian key cities and destinations. Airbus A330-200 will be deployed for the two new routes from India to Milan, operating thrice a week from both cities.

GoAir has launched its first-ever direct flight from Mumbai to Male. The new international schedule introduces direct flights connecting Male to India – Mumbai and New Delhi. Flight G8 023 was given a ceremonial flag off at 13:25 IST which departed from Mumbai on its maiden flight to Velana International Airport, Maldives. In sync with the aviation tradition to mark key milestones, the flight was greeted with a grand water cannon salute upon its arrival at the Male Airport followed by ribbon-cutting ceremony. GoAir’s international service is operated by airbus A320 Neo aircraft and with immediate effect, it will mark the commencement of a direct service 2 times a week between New Delhi – Male – New Delhi sector and direct service of 3 times a week between Mumbai – Male – Mumbai sector. Speaking on the occasion, Cornelis Vrieswijk, Chief Executive Officer, GoAir said, “We welcome Male as a part of our new global network. In light of the significant increase in outgoing tourism from India over the past few years, GoAir introduced a direct flight services from Mumbai and New Delhi to Male. It is a huge amendment in the books of GoAir and we hope to provide our customers with superior experience at the best yet affordable prices.”

The success of the fifth India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) annual summit in Auckland has highlighted the strong will among both nations to take their trade and investment relationship up several notches, riding on India’s fast growing economy. Themed on Aviation, Tourism and Technology, the one-day summit heard substantively from some of the most successful business people and policy influencers in these sectors both from India and New Zealand and from New Zealand’s Members of Parliament across the main political parties. In a video message from New Delhi, Suresh Prabhu, India’s Minister for Commerce, Industry and Civil Aviation, welcomed the summit and invited New Zealand businesses to join India’s unfolding growth story tipped to go from $5 trillion to $10 trillion in the next 15 years.​While trade agreements were touched upon, presenters were emphatic and unanimous in their opinion that strengthening better air links – especially direct flights – between the two countries was key to not only boosting tourism numbers but also growing the education sector, trade and investment exponentially. “Growth in Indian tourist numbers into New Zealand has been encouraging over the past few years but the potential was great,” said Suresh Nair, General Manager, Air Asia—India. “Air Asia had developed expertise in creating and marketing new tourist destinations with robust and frequent air links in Asia and India, working with the hospitality industry. New Zealand could similarly tailor its own destinations to suit preferences of the growing and increasingly mobile Indian tourist industry,” he said.

Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Jeju Tourism Organization recently held a joint roadshow in New Delhi and Mumbai to present the destination to travel agents. This was their second tourism presentation in India since 2015 when they made their India debut. Park Hong Bai, President, Jeju Tourism Organization, led the Korean delegation that comprised Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and three domestic businesses that were participating in the roadshow. About 100 tour operators attended the show in each city. Indian nationals do not require a visa for visiting Jeju Island. Hong Bai, said, “This roadshow is a very important first step for Jeju to tap the Indian market. Jeju will be working with Korea Tourism Organization and Hong Kong Tourism Board to boost promotion of each region in India and to increase the satisfaction of Indian travellers who plan to visit Jeju.”

The Park Hotels brought its year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations to The Park New Delhi on September 22. The event was presided over by Priya Paul, Chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels and Vijay Dewan, Managing Director, The Park Hotels. Speaking on the occasion, Paul said, “50 years is an important milestone and I am grateful to everyone who has been a part of The Park Hotels’ incredible journey. Our remarkable success is due to our solid foundation and values. Our vision of ‘Leadership Through Differentiation’ is manifested by each of our 15 hotels across India. My outstanding team and I look forward to creating unique experiences for customers and more value for our stakeholders.” The Park Hotels’ 50-year celebrations continue across India and will culminate at The Park Vishakhapatnam which also turns 50 in 2018. About 50 years ago, Late Jit Paul and Late Surrendra Paul took the hospitality industry a notch higher when Apeejay Surrendra Group’s first hotel The Park Kolkata, a contemporary luxury property was opened on November 1, 1967. Since then, The Park Hotels has taken the path of creating a unique collection of luxury boutique hotels. Tapping into the ever-shifting pulse of society, the edgy design and imaginative spaces have brought together the pioneers of creativity to engage with each other and with the hotels.

The Ministry of Tourism, Oman successfully conducted the first leg of its multi-city roadshow in Delhi at The Taj Mahal Hotel. Her Excellency Maitha Saif Al Mahrouqim, Undersecretary, Ministry of Tourism, Oman; Sunil VA, Regional Vice President, ISC, Oman Air and Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative – Ministry of Tourism, Oman along with other representatives were present at the roadshow. On the occasion, Mahrouqi said that Oman has witnessed over 31 per cent growth in Indian arrivals since 2014. “In 2017 alone, Oman received 321,161 Indian visitors with a growth of over 7 per cent in just one year. In the first six months of 2018, the country witnessed 15 per cent growth in comparison to the same period last year. Oman is a ideal for every kind of traveller but we are looking to focus immensely on MiCE opportunities from India.” Furthermore, to encourage more travellers to visit the country, Oman has recently announced a new short-term tourist visa at 5 Omani Riyal (OMR) equivalent to approximately Rs 940 to visit the Sultanate for a period of 10 days. This is in addition to the existing e-visa for Oman which is available at 20 OMR with a validity of one month.

Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) highlighted the state’s historical monuments and cultural heritage through its participation at India Tourism Mart (ITM) recently held at The Ashok New Delhi. The focus was to showcase and revive the fast-growing tourism sector of Madhya Pradesh. The stall of MPTB was visited by industry influencers, travel enthusiasts, corporate, business heads, travel operators and media professionals from different corners of the city to exchange views and opinions on Madhya Pradesh Tourism. MPTB is going to organise two major events in Bhopal this year – Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart from October 5-7 and Adventure NEXT from December 3-5. The former is organised by ATTA in collaboration with MPTB in association with ATOAI. ATTA has chosen Madhya Pradesh because of its adventure-friendly destinations and efforts of MPTB to promote adventure tourism in the state. As quoted by the officials of MPTB, “Madhya Pradesh is flourished with historic marvels, home of wildlife animals and warm people. It is also called the tiger state of India. We expect major inbound tourist footfall mainly from UK. If you look at the statistics, a lot of international destinations like Switzerland, Singapore are now filled with Indian tourists. So if Indians are willing to go abroad and see destinations of the world, why not explore our own country. So we are having a balanced approach in all the sectors of tourism such as adventure, wildlife, heritage and many more.”