Boeing has signed a pact with Airports Authority of India (AAI) to come up with a 10-year plan to modernise air traffic management in India. The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) will fund the 18-month project which will focus on navigation, communication and modernisation of air traffic management. The agreement aims at developing a road map for AAI to upgrade the Indian National Airspace System. The mordernisation of this system will be based on local and global best practices to use airspace capacity, improve communications and invest in surveillance, navigation and air traffic management. Boeing will analyse current processes and technologies to tap efficiency improvements which can be implemented while maintaining a safe and practical airspace system.
Read More »Indian arrivals in Singapore down by 2% in April
According to the recent statistics by Singapore Tourism Board, reported on 4 June, Indian visitor arrivals to Singapore in April declined by 1.7 per cent. The number of tourists arrived in Singapore in April 2019 were 120,214 as compared to 122,229 during the same month last year. However, the global vistor arrivals in Singapore saw an increase of 3 per cent in April 2019.
Read More »TCEB holds roadshows in Hyderabad, Jayapura, Kolkata & Lucknow to tap MICE
Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization) taps into secondary MICE cities in India with the herald of MICE road shows, eyeing to attract more than 13,000 visitors into Thailand to boost meetings and incentives market by which can generate over 1,000 MB of revenue. Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, President of Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization) or TCEB, disclosed that TCEB has been thinking highly of MICE markets in India, which is considered a MICE market with the second largest number of MICE travellers after China. As a market with high potentiality in terms of population and economic growth, TCEB recognised the cities and thus joined forces with Thai entrepreneurs to hold road shows that expect to promote meetings and incentives in secondary cities of India. During March to April, two road shows were held. The first show was in Hyderabad and Jayapura, as these two are big cities with the readiness of MICE travel agents. Also, these two cities are distinct with high potentiality and tendency to encourage working people to have their meetings and incentives events in Thailand. The second road show happened in Kolkata and Lucknow, which are secondary cities with a small number of MICE travellers. Interestingly, there are a good number of travel agents with high potentiality qualified to develop as MICE travel agents in the future. TCEB realises that the preparation of networking with agents at the early stage in secondary cities will help to form long-term business relationship, which is a key factor in dealing with the Indians.
Read More »Passenger traffic at Indian airports down by 5%: AAI
According to the recent figures release by Airports Authority of India (AAI), the aircraft movements, passenger and freight traffic have decreased by -3.4 percent, -5.4 percent and -3.2 percent respectively at all Indian airports taken together during April 2019 over April 2018. During this month, all operational airports (taken together) handled 201.16 thousand aircraft movements (excluding General Aviation Movements), 26.70 million passengers and 275.15 thousand tonnes of freight.
Read More »TTM+ 2019 kick-starts in Pattaya
Thailand’s most important B2B travel trade show, the Thailand Travel Mart Plus Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion (TTM+) 2019, kick-started on June 5. Under the theme of ‘New Shades of Emerging Destinations’, TTM+ 2019 has attracted a total of 351 buyers (including 50 Indian buyers), 371 sellers, and around 130 international and domestic media. For the second consecutive year, the event is being held at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Pattaya, the biggest marina in Southeast Asia. The mart that lasts for three days comes back this year in a bigger and brighter format that clearly reflects the new sense of direction in a rapidly evolving and highly competitive global environment. The overall focus of the show will be Thailand’s emerging destinations nationwide, 55 provinces with spectacular beauty, heritage, cultural and culinary attractions. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, says, “This year’s theme reflects a strong continuation of our long-standing strategy to promote our emerging destinations with the aim of creating jobs and distributing revenue nationwide, from major cities to local communities, while creating sustainability by balancing the number of visitors to the destinations. Both international and domestic buyers will find these 55 emerging destinations perfectly suited to the needs of their clients, especially those who seek off-the-beaten-path holidays and repeaters looking for new products. In fact, we are already beginning to see results. In 2018, we recorded six million (6,223,183) trips by foreign tourists to these cities, a growth of +4.95 percent over 2017.”
Read More »GoAir is the best ‘On-Time Performance’ airline in India: DGCA
In fiscal 2018-19, GoAir has achieved the best On-Time performance (OTP) for 7 out of 12 months. The data for the same was shared by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). GoAir has been adjudged as India’s most reliable airline as it had clocked best-on-time performance (OTP). The OTP is a key for any passengers as it relates to arrival and departure. It becomes even more crucial as based on this a passenger can plan for connecting flight on time. GoAir has recorded the best OTP of 96.3 per cent in April 2019, according to DGCA data. This is not the first time that GoAir achieved this feat. GoAir has emerged to stay on top of the OTP chart for the 8th consecutive month. In fiscal 2018-19, GoAir achieved the best OTP for an astounding 7 out of 12 months.
Read More »Oman Tourism concludes its three-city roadshow in India
The Ministry of Tourism, Oman recently conducted roadshows in Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai on 27th, 29th and 31st May 2019 respectively, in a bid to strengthen its outreach among the travel trade industry of India. Through the roadshows, the Ministry along with destination management companies, hotels, attraction operators and Oman Air, the national carrier connected with over 200 prominent travel and tour companies. The format of the roadshows was interactive, with prefixed meetings, enabling trade partners and travel agents to network and learn more about the diverse product offerings and experiences that Oman has to offer. In 2018, Oman recorded 12.37% growth in Indian tourist arrivals with 357,147 travellers visiting the country vis-à-vis 317,844 in 2017 ranking India as the second highest source market for Oman. Keeping up with this growth trajectory, Oman has already witnessed a 17% increase in the period of January to April 2019 with 130,011 Indian visitors to Oman in comparison to 111,123 during the same period in 2018. Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative, Ministry of Tourism, Oman said, “Tourism is on the rise and inbound arrivals from India has significantly increased in the last few years. India represents a substantial and vast market for Oman, given the high percentage of travellers willing to travel abroad and experience new destinations. We have been observing a steady year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals to Oman from India and are extremely pleased with the consistent growth. While Mumbai is one of our primary source markets, Bangalore and Pune have shown immense potential as we see a rise in the number of outbound travellers from these cities. They are constantly on the lookout for unique destinations and Oman fits the bill …
Read More »Aviation from Indian Tier-II & III growing at 18% compared to 6% in metros
In a recently concluded CAPA Airline CEOs in Seoul Summit, SpiceJet’s Chief Customer Service Officer, Kamal Hingorani, states that the annual passenger growth from Indian Tier-II and Tier-III cities is 18% while growth happening in the main metros is about 5-6% and this growth has created the need for the development of new hubs in smaller cities. Traditionally, Delhi and Mumbai have been the only hub airports but according to Hingorani Hyderabad and Bangalore are now being expanded to cater to domestic and international growth. (Souce: CAPA)
Read More »SpiceJet to operate Guwahati-Dhaka flight from 1 July
SpiceJet has recently announced that it will fly between Guwahati and Dhaka beginning July 1. This will be the first flight under the Central Government’s UDAN International scheme, set to enhance air connectivity between Indian states and international destinations. The airline has also announced that it will be launching 14 other flights on its domestic network from June 20. Frequency increases have also been proposed on the existing routes of Kolkata-Dibrugarh, Guwahati-Dibrugarh, and Bengaluru-Mangaluru. Expanding its network further, the low-cost carrier will also soon fly daily on the Bengaluru-Belagavi route.
Read More »Singapore Airlines introduces Airbus A350 aircraft on its Kolkata route
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport has announced that Singapore Airlines has introduced its Airbus A350-900 aircraft on the Kolkata-Singapore sector. The A350-900 features higher ceilings, larger windows, an extra wide body delivering more space and comfort as well as lighting designed to reduce jet lag. Fitted with the new regional business class and economy class cabin products, the A350-900 medium haul business class cabin has 40 seats in a 1-2-1 arrangement that ensures direct aisle access for every customer, while the economy class cabin has 263 seats arranged in a comfortable 3-3-3 configuration.
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