New Delhi based 25 years old experiential and adventure tour operating company Holiday Moods Adventures Pvt Ltd has been appointed distributor in India by the Havila Kystruten Operations AS (Norway) for its Havila Cruise bookings. Managing Director, Tejbir Singh Anand of Holiday Moods Adventures Pvt Ltd says- “It’s a great honour and a proud privilege to be associated with the Havila group and the journeys ahead seems very exciting to distribute Havila cruises inventory in India.”

Qatar Airways and IndiGo announced the reactivation of their strategic cooperation following the lifting of the suspension on international scheduled flights by the Indian government. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “The reactivation of our strategic partnership with IndiGo is another milestone in the development of aviation between the State of Qatar and India. Together, both Qatar Airways and IndiGo will offer over 340 flights per week to 13 destinations in India. Never before has our partnership with IndiGo been stronger and the resumption of our strategic cooperation demonstrates the resilience, agility and commitment both partners have shown in overcoming the challenges of the pandemic.” 

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had earlier imposed a fare cap for 15 days due to the pandemic, in order for the government to control any fare hike on the sale of air tickets. As the ministry announced operations at 100% capacity after a gap of two years, airline companies have called for the removal of the fare limit. “If we talk about the fare caps, then it is my responsibility to the passengers as well as to the airlines,” Scindia said. 

“Welcome Back to Thailand is an initiative of TravelBullz in association with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and over 40 Hotels in Thailand to enhance the number of Travellers to choose Thailand as a destination this summer of 2022” said, KD Singh, Founder & President, TravelBullz. This pan India campaign is to engage with the B2B as well as Thailand partners to focus on new segments.

Reviewing the airline’s fleet of aircraft in terms of leasing costs and operating efficiency is a key pillar within a broader cost restructuring plan embarked upon by the airline since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.  Other restructuring initiatives have thus far resulted in the airline ceasing to rely on government funding since the second quarter of 2021, and returning a profit since December 2021 – the most profitable month on record.   The initiation of the re-fleeting RFP is primarily prompted by the impending expiry of aircraft leases for over 50% of the current fleet. The airline recognizes that the current global market for aircraft leasing presents an attractive pricing environment which would maximise the cost savings which can be achieved via the timely execution of a re-fleeting strategy. The combination into a single RFP of replacement aircraft (expiring leases) with growth needs over the ensuing period, captures benefits of scale. A single procurement exercise also avails optionality in terms of selecting the optimum fleet structure in terms of operating efficiency, aircraft type and aircraft age.  All aircraft leases will be funded through the airline’s current existing cashflows, and the re-fleeting is expected to significantly reduce the airline’s cost structure going forward. The re-fleeting exercise will alongside other strategic initiatives help the airline increase its operating margins and further elevate its operating cash flows which will support the timely paying down of long-term debt to the Government of Sri Lanka and other lenders.  The promising turnaround in the airline’s financials have accrued both from cost restructuring as well as from selective growth initiatives in terms of expansion of the route network to include new destinations, and exploitation of growth …

Tripura Tourism Minister Pranajit Singha Roy said that a MoU will be inked between the state tourism department and Bangladesh tour operators to introduce conducted tours to the neighouring country during the second edition of Indo-Bangla Paryatan Utsav. The three-day tourism event will begin on April 17 and a 75-member strong contingent from Bangladesh will also be there. 

India is planning to issue e-passports to its citizens starting from the financial year 2022-23. Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan said in the Rajya Sabha. The MoS informed that the e-passport will be a combined paper and electronic passport. It will have an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip and antenna as an inlay in the back cover. The critical information of the passport will be printed on its data page and stored in the chip as well.

Vinutaa S, Assistant Vice President and Sector Head, ICRA Limited, said, “ICRA expects the hotel industry to clock ~60% of pre-Covid revenues in FY2022, despite almost four months of impact because of Covid 2.0 and Covid 3.0. Further, the industry is also likely to report operating profits in FY2022 aided by improved operating leverage and sustenance of some of the cost-optimisation measures undertaken in FY2021”. 

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal recently said that the services exports has touched an all-time high of around USD 250 billion (about Rs 19 lakh crore) in 2021-22. “We have achieved the USD 250 billion target despite the fact that sectors like tourism and travel was hit by the COVID pandemic” he said at a briefing. The previous highest level was USD 213 bn (Rs 16 lakh cr) in 2019-20.

Suprio Banerjee, Vice President & Sector Head, ICRA recently said, “Domestic passenger traffic for FY2022 is estimated at 84 million, YoY growth of 59%, marginally higher than our estimate of 80-82 million, although it is 40% lower than pre-Covid levels. For March 2022, the average daily departures were at 2,588, higher than the average daily departures of 2,308 in March 2021, and notably higher compared to 2,023 in February 2022. The average number of passengers per flight during March 2022 was at 132, against an average of 135 passengers per flight in February 2022. Elevated ATF prices aggravated by geo-political issues will remain a near-term challenge for the industry and will be a key determinant of profitability for the industry.”