Foreign airlines’ flight operations in India are going to increase by 3.05 per cent this ‘winter schedule’, which starts on October 27 and ends on March 28, 2020, according to DGCA. An official of DGCA said, “The data shows that in last year’s winter schedule, foreign airlines operated 2,262 flights per week, which would increase by 3.05 per cent to 2,331 flights per week in this year’s winter schedule.” In total, 85 foreign airlines operated to and from India during last year’s winter schedule as compared to 86 foreign carriers which would be operating in the same period this year, the official said.

IndiGo has joined IATA as a member and this announcement followed soon after the airline’s recent expansion into Vietnam, Myanmar, China and Saudi Arabia. IndiGo is currently an IOSA registered airline and IATA Clearing House member. IATA is the global trade association for the airline industry, representing over 290 airlines. This membership will help IndiGo align to global practices developed by IATA and will further strengthen the airline’s partnership portfolio.

Harmandeeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, GPS, in a recent interview has mentioned that GPS will be launching EDWIN@Amazing Thailand in association with ATTA (Association of THAI travel Agents), TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) , THA (Thailand Hotel Association). He also said that, Trawelltag – Covermore will be the insurance partner. The itinerary will cover the less explored region of Kanchanaburi and Khao Yai in addition to Bangkok and Pattaya over a duration of 4nts/5days from 25-29 Nov 2019. Regional stake holders will showcase their products to all the attendees. Registrations will open exclusively from 31Oct for GPS 10X members with limited spaces.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) has launched direct service between Chennai and Tokyo. With the new service, Chennai has become the first city in South India to have the flight connectivity to the Narita International Airport, Tokyo. The Chennai-Narita connect will operate thrice a week on Friday, Sunday and Wednesday, AAI said.

The Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) airport in North Karnataka is ready and the state government is trying to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate it. The airport was earlier proposed to begin operations from November 1 but has been delayed as a lot of permission has to be sought from many departments, told Umesh Jadhav, Kalaburagi Member of Parliament.

Mumbai airport has announced its expansion of existing flight frequency to the United Kingdom with Virgin Atlantic. The added flight frequency in the BOM-LHR route that began operations from 28th October 2019 to collectively boost CSMIA’s passenger traffic by 27%. Additionally, CSMIA also inaugurated the launch of Air India’s flights to Kuwait and Columbo on 27th October 2019

The Hahn Air Group has announced the launch of a new company—Hahn Air Technologies, which will provide distribution services to airlines that are looking to expand their indirect ticket sales. It will also be an innovation centre and think tank for the Hahn Air Group by exploring and developing the potential of new distribution channels such as NDC, blockchain-based providers and mobile solutions. In fact, the first product of Hahn Air Technologies is X1-Air, which when used by airlines that have limited or no indirect distribution connectivity, can immediately make their flights available in various sales channels. Aside from interfaces with major GDS, such as Amadeus and Sabre and soon Travelport, the service package of Hahn Air Technologies and X1-Air includes scheduling, fare filing, messaging, inventory management as well as booking, ticketing and settlement. More GDSs will be added to the service in the near future. The first partner airlines to use the services of Hahn Air Technologies are Air Panama (7P) from Panama, ASL Airline France (5O) from France, Azur Air Ukraine (QU) from Ukraine, Jam Airlink Express (J0) from Jamaica, Mayair (5G) from Mexico, Ulendo Airlink (W4) from Malawi, Westair Aviation (WV) from Namibia and Wildcat Touring (WC) from the United States. “Our products complete any airline’s distribution strategy. X1-Air allows low-cost airlines to outsource their complete indirect distribution in a simple, risk free and cost-efficient manner. For regional airlines we provide easy access to a truly global distribution network of over 100,000 travel agencies in 190 markets. For all airlines which only have direct distribution channels, X1-Air is the perfect first step to enter indirect distribution”, says Alexander Proschka, Head of Hahn Air Technologies,” says Proschka.

Indian Railways has introduced a new OTP based refund system for tickets booked through authorised railway ticketing agents. The move is believed to forge a transparent and customer friendly refund system for reserved e-tickets which are cancelled or which are fully wait-listed dropped tickets. This system will be implemented by Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC). The OTP (One time Password) will be received as SMS on the registered mobile number of the passenger (provided by the customer/passenger to the agent at the time of booking). The customer/passenger will be required to share the OTP with the agent who booked the ticket, for getting the refund amount. This user-friendly facility would allow the passenger to know about the exact refund amount received by agent on his behalf against cancelled ticket or fully waitlisted dropped ticket. The objective of the scheme is to streamline the cancellation refund process further so that cancellation amount is refunded timely to the customer by the agents. In order to avail this facility, customers are advised to provide correct mobile no. of one of the passengers to the IRCTC authorised agent at the time of booking reserved rail e-tickets. Also, they should ensure that the agent records his or her mobile no. correctly at the time of booking reserved rail e-tickets. The passengers need to note that only IRCTC authorised agents are permitted to book reserved rail e-tickets to the customer. Also, they should note that OTP based refund for cancelled tickets or fully waitlisted dropped tickets, will be processed only if the ticket is booked through IRCTC authorised agents.

In a recent announcement, Ethiopian Airlines has revealed it will be flying four times a week on Addis Ababa-Bengaluru route, making the tech hub its third destination in India after Mumbai and New Delhi to have direct connectivity. The flight will operate on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday on Boeing 737-800 and the flight duration will be of 6 hours and 30 minutes. The flight will take off at 23:00 hours (GMT+3) and will land at Bengaluru airport at 8 am local time.

Ark Travels has successfully completed a 21-city roadshow in India. The roadshows planned and executed in association with Genting Cruise Lines and Dream Cruises was to educate travel trade about the services, new offers, value-add-ons and benefits of cruising. Events were organised in major metro cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai (seven events including Thane and New Mumbai) and Chennai, along with tier two cities such as Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Lucknow and Mangalore. The company primarily in business of selling international cruise vacations to Indian travellers, is also the first to touch base with travel agents by hosting cruise specific roadshows in cities like Dehradun, Agra, Pondicherry, Coimbatore and Madurai. To further reward its travel partners, Ark Travels organised a familiarisation trip onboard Dream Cruises’ newest cruise ship – Explorer Dream. To add on to their experience, agents were hosted in Singapore and were taken to Hong Kong on a Jetstar chartered flight by Genting Cruise Lines to board the cruise. In total, 64 travel agents were hosted from across India for the inaugural five-night-sailing itinerary on Explorer Dream giving agents opportunity to explore destinations like Hong Kong – Nha Trang – Ho Chi Minh City – Singapore.