The General Authority of Civil Aviation, UAE has suspended all inbound passenger movement to the UAE from India until July 6, 2021. This excludes UAE nationals. Passengers are advised to reschedule their tickets for travel at a future date. Dubai’s Emirates had earlier said that passenger flights from India would remain suspended at least until June 30. The suspension of incoming passenger traffic from India to the UAE began on April 24. It was extended on May 4 by the UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) in light of a deadly second wave of Covid-19 currently affecting India.

On 3rd June 1971, Singapore Airlines made its maiden foray into Mumbai, completing 50 years of operations since then. Over the last 50 years, we have achieved several key milestones in Mumbai. Owing to the pandemic, Singapore Airlines continues to have zero passenger flights out of India, and a lot of international borders are still closed for regular passenger traffic. Unfortunately, it is in this sombre and uncertain environment that Singapore Airlines ushered in the Golden Jubilee of its Mumbai operations.

Reacting immediately to the fire incident that occurred at the Bhawan in Katra yesterday, KB Kachru, Member of Board of Trustees, Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, J&K, says, “At around 4.00 p.m. on 8 June a fire incident took place at Bhawan. The fire hydrants were pressed into service and the fire was brought under control by 4.25 p.m. No person has been injured in the said incident. There has been no hindrance to the yatra. The Yatra to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji is progressing smoothly.”  

The Tripjack team has yet again proven their commitment to empower travel agents across India with robust technology solutions with the launch of its new product called Tripjack Rail. Sharing this update is Hasan Patel, Director, Tripjack, says, “We are very happy with the progress we have made together as a team, and even after the lockdown we have put our head down and worked hard to deliver the best for our agents. Tripjack Rail is by far the best product available for agents. We have focused on building a seamless user experience which allows us to be the first travel company to have an end-to-end mobile booking solution for trains. Agents can now book unlimited IRCTC train tickets, get instant cancellation & refund facility, and increase their income. We encourage all partners to sign up on tripjack.com for the trains product, and you can start your flights, hotels, rail, insurance, and visa business in less than 2 days. We at tripjack are very excited for the bright future ahead, and look forward to growing even faster as we enter the recovery phase post-pandemic. There’s a lot more to come from us, so stay tuned.”    

The tourism industry has lost another stalwart in Dr. Ankur Bhatia. He was the Executive Director at Bird Group. Bhatia passed away of a cardiac arrest. He was 48. A prolific and outstanding leader, Ankur Bhatia led the group’s strategic thrust to create multiple drivers of growth that made a significant and growing contribution to the company and industry at large. He also shaped and implemented blue ocean strategies that strengthened the overall brand proposition and accelerated a leap in core business value by exploring new growth avenues for building uncontested market leadership. Dr. Bhatia brought in the Amadeus brand to the Indian sub-continent in 1994.      

ANA Holdings has partnered with leading game studio JP Games to launch ANA Neo which is an interactive virtual platform that will bring the joy of travel and unique online shopping opportunities to audiences worldwide. Key to the platform is the ‘Sky Whale’ where users will be able to travel and access interactive activities and other environments within ANA Neo. The service is scheduled to launch in 2022, and it will be a welcome sight in an age when COVID-19 has accelerated digitization while curtailing travel opportunities. ANA Neo harnesses the latest breakthroughs to forge new bonds between people and cultures. “ANA Neo will open up the joy of travel to a much broader audience and provide users with an unrivaled experience,” said Mitsuo Tomita, president and CEO of ANA Neo. “Complete with realistic recreations of famous tourist sites and unprecedented shopping options, ANA Neo will help people explore the world from the comfort of a connected smart device. As the first global airline to launch this type of platform, we are excited to open up new possibilities and new experiences for people.” “Much like travel, virtual platforms are an excellent way to connect with people and experience new things,” said Hajime Tabata, chief producer of ANA NEO and Chief Executive Officer of JP GAMES. “ANA Neo is a bold new reimagining of a virtual platform, leveraging the latest breakthroughs to create an immersive digital world that captures the wonder of travel and lets families and friends tour them together.

For the first time in India, an agency representative chaired the Airline Passenger Joint Council of IATA (APJC) which was held virtually on May 25 and attended by the airline representatives and agency representatives of TAAI and TAFI. In a historic move, TAAI President Jyoti Mayal was unanimously selected to the chair the meeting. TAAI was represented by Vice President – Jay Bhatia, Hon. Secretary General – Bettaiah Lokesh, Hon. Treasurer – Shreeram Patel and UFTAA President and Past President – TAAI, Sunil Kumar Rumalla. The agency representatives took up all the important points of concern and have made recommendations through APJC to PAPGJC / PSG which shall be taken up at PAconf also.

The crisis in the Indian aviation sector owing to the second COVID-19 wave has reached a ‘point of no return’ said aviation consultancy firm CAPA India. If the Ministry of Civil Aviation fails to adopt immediate measures to contain the crisis, the sector would end up suffering an irreparable loss, it said. The situation can ‘no longer be ignored’ by the government, CAPA India tweeted.

Private sector investments in sustainable or green tourism in the region are still slow-coming, observed Nicolas Mayer, global tourism leader, PWC. “There is a niche of eco-lodges and so on where sustainability is in their DNA, but I have not seen large moves that would lead me to believe there is something that is gaining traction beyond a niche. I believe sustainable tourism will eventually come but the question is who will pay for it.”

A breath test designed to detect Covid-19 and give accurate results within a minute has been approved for use in Singapore. The test, developed by National University of Singapore spin-off startup Breathonix, works like a standard breathalyzer test. A person blows into a one-way valve mouthpiece, and compounds in the person’s breath are compared by machine learning software against the sort of breath signature that would be expected from someone who is Covid-positive.