Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued additional safety directives to airlines in the country flying the Boeing 737 MAX after the Ethopian Airlines plane crash. SpiceJet and Jet Airways in India use these disputable aircraft. According to the directive, The pilot commanding the aircraft should have at least 1,000 hours of flying experience while the co-pilot should have at least 500 hours of flying experience. “The DGCA will continue to closely monitor the situation and may impose/ take any other operational/ maintenance measures/ restrictions based on the information received from accident investigation agency/ FAA/ Boeing,” the regulator said in a statement. In addition, DGCA has also asked the airlines to ensure various requirements are complied with by engineering and maintenance personnel with respect to 737 MAX planes.The operators have to ensure that no B737– 8 MAX aircraft in their fleet is operated without compliance with DGCA’s latest directions with effect from 1200 hours on March 12. These include conditions that Minimum Equipment List (MEL) would not be released for operating an aircraft in case dual auto pilot mode and certain other parts are inoperative. “Safety of the passengers is our utmost concern. Directed Secretary and DGCA to take appropriate action immediately,” said Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu in a tweet. (With PTI Inputs)

Trafalgar has announced 100% Definite Departures on its Europe & Britain trips for the 2019 Europe and Britain summer season. “We know it’s been a challenging sales year for our agent partners with high consumer interest yet a later booking window, so we are going 100 per cent definite to help our valued partners close the sale and reassure their clients that now is the best time to book. Travellers globally are craving reassurance, which they will always get with Trafalgar. With our existing deposit guarantees, our extensive range of 100+ award-winning European trips and our 4.7/5 independent Feefo rating, now combined with our 100% definite departure status, agent partners can sell us with 100% confidence,” says Gavin Tollman, Trafalgar’s CEO. Trafalgar offers a multi-dimensional travel experience, delivering travel moments that open up a destination like no other brand can offer. Guests will discover at a grassroots level how choosing Trafalgar is making a genuine and visible impact to people and the places we visit. Through JoinTrafalgar experiences, travellers support World Heritage Listed Sites on 63% of trips, such as supporting the UKs National Trust to protect places like the White Cliffs of Dover in Britain and Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. On selected Trafalgar trips, guests also visit female artisans at social enterprises and itineraries are planned to encourage visits to lesser known communities, encourage tourism dispersal to ensure more people go beyond the iconic attractions.

South African company Great Plains Conservation has a newly-minted agreement with Avant Garde Consulting, headed up by Pooja Wadhwa and Kunal Munshaw. They will be responsible for targeted sales, marketing and public relations activities in the Indian market. Dereck Joubert, CEO, Great Plains Conservation, says, “We have always enjoyed the shared values and ethos of our guests from India at our safari camps in Botswana and Kenya. There is just something special about sharing the joy and appreciation that we love about this business. On opening further new safari offerings (new camps in Botswana and Kenya this year and totally new safari experience in Zimbabwe), the time came for us to further grow our relationship with these valued guests and to bring on a more permanent sales presence in India. Avant Garde has a great reputation in the Indian market and we feel that we share common values and sensitivities when it comes to conservation ethics, high-end tourism experiences and being respectful and caring to everyone and everything we touch.” Pooja Wadhwa, Founding Partner, Avant Garde, says, “Our foray into the African continent could not have been met with a better partnership than the one we have found in Great Plains Conservation, a company that is so passionate about preserving everything that Africa really stands for, wildlife, nature & its people. It also leads us towards conscious luxury, tranquil travelling and giving back to where we came from, something that the evolved traveller is seeking, in today’s fast-paced world.” Great Plains Conservation is an African-focused conservation tourism focused organization that creates conservation and community initiatives through a sustainable bouquet of small luxurious camps, lodges and safari experiences. Great Plains Conservation …

Queensland concludes 4-city roadshow in Mumbai Tourism and Events Queensland had embarked on a four-city roadshow in India touching New Delhi, Chennai, Ahmadabad and finally Mumbai along with 11 operators from the state. Leading the delegation was Ryna Sequeira, Country Manager – India, Tourism and Events Queensland, who said, “We have hosted ‘Queensland on Tour India’ this week. We have actually been back after five years to do this event and we have received great response from our Queensland suppliers. They have come all the way from Gold Coast, Cairns in the Great Barrier Reef, Hamilton Island, Whitsundays, Tangalooma Island Resort from the region of Southern Queensland, Tourism Tropical North Queensland, as well as the regional tourism organisations.” The said that the idea behind this was to introduce new updates and products to the Indian buyers. “This is important to do because everyone thinks that Queensland is a standard three-night itinerary which isn’t true. We want to showcase the many new products within the ones we are already selling to the trade and inform them about the new updates. We would also like them to learn about the new experiences in the other regions that are not very popular in India yet,” she adds.

The Lufthansa Group and Amadeus has announced that they will renew their longstanding technology partnership. Through the deal, Amadeus’ Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS) will continue to provide Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines with their IT systems for reservation, inventory and departure control. In addition, the Lufthansa Group and Amadeus are also expanding their partnership to add further areas of collaboration. Areas in which Amadeus technology is supporting the Lufthansa Group range from operations and merchandising & shopping to disruptions management. “Amadeus and the Lufthansa Group are two companies, founded in Europe, driving growth and digitalization across the world,” says Dr. Roland Schütz, Executive Vice President Information Management & Lufthansa Group CIO. “Amadeus systems will continue to support the Lufthansa Group through industry-leading solutions that foster innovation.” “We are very proud to announce an agreement to expand our partnership with Lufthansa Group today,” says Julia Sattel, President, Airlines, Amadeus. “Our partnership is based on a deep mutual understanding and respect, and this agreement is proof of the collaborative, individual approach we take with our customers. Amadeus’ industry-leading technology supports the Lufthansa Group to pursue its business goals.”

Travel insurance provider, Cover-More, part of Zurich Insurance Group, has reaffirmed a strong commitment to driving growth and differentiation for their TrawellTag Cove-More business in India. Dev Karvat, Founder & CEO, TrawellTag Cover-More, India & Emerging Markets, said being part of a global player allowed the business in India to intelligently apply Cover-More’s travel insurance capabilities to de-commoditise the product offering and grow the share of the traveller wallet. “In recent years, we have also become the partner of choice for airlines and leading online travel agencies including GoAir, IndiGo and Goibibo which underlines the strength of our integrated travel insurance offer and our ability to deliver differentiated solutions for our distribution partners. The next step for us is a deeper dive into the e-commerce sector with enhanced technological know-how and support from the Cover-More and aligning that with the changing business scenarios in India.” Visiting Mumbai recently, Cover-More CEO, Asia Pacific, Judith Crompton said India remains one of the most exciting economies in Asia with growth in travel insurance uptake almost double that of more mature markets. “Cover-More remains very positive about the outlook for travel in India, especially international travel. In recent years, we have also seen significant growth in the number of outbound travellers understanding the importance of quality travel insurance,” Crompton said. She was in India as part of Cover-More’s new global growth strategy roll-out. She was appointed as Cover-More’s CEO, Asia Pacific in October 2018.

Expanding its reach to new destinations under UDAN III, SpiceJet has announced the commencement of eight new daily flights to Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. The city will be the airline’s 11th destination under the regional connectivity scheme and overall 52nd domestic destination. The eight new flights will also make SpiceJet the first airline to offer daily direct flights on the Gwalior-Hyderabad-Gwalior, Gwalior-Jammu-Gwalior, Gwalior-Bengaluru-Gwalior and Gwalior-Kolkata Gwalior sectors. The budget carrier has also announced four new daily flights connecting Bhopal including daily non-stop flight between Udaipur and Bhopal from March 31. It also announced daily direct flights between Chennai and Bhopal.

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has won the First Prize in the category of TV Cinema Spot at the prestigious international Golden City Gate Tourism Awards 2019. The awards were received by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary,Tourism on March 8, 2019 at ITB, Berlin. Following promotional films/television commercials produced by the Ministry as part of its Incredible India 2.0 Campaign received the awards: Yogi of the Racetrack The Reincarnation of Mr. and Mrs. Jones Sanctuary in Paris Maharani of Manhattan and The Masala Master Chef The Golden City Gate Tourism Multi-media Awards are given annually in various categories related to the Tourism and Hospitality sectors. The ‘Golden City Gate’ is a creative multi-media international competition for countries, cities, regions and hotels. The entries received for the awards are judged by an international jury comprising film and tourism experts. The annual award ceremony takes place at ITB Berlin, the world’s leading tourism trade show. The Ministry of Tourism has launched the Incredible India 2.0 Campaign in September 2017. The 2.0 Campaign marks a shift from generic promotions across the world to market specific promotional plans and content creation. Thematic creatives on different Niche tourism products have been produced and are being used in the Campaign, to cater to diverse consumer interests.These include the above Television Commercials on Yoga, Wellness, Wildlife, Luxury and Cuisine, which have been very well received the world over, registering about 155 million views on social media. The commercials have been produced in English with voice overs in 9 international languages, viz. German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Narendra Modi has given its approval for extension of time and scope for revival and development of un-served and under-served air strips of State Governments, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Civil enclaves, CPSUs, helipads and water aerodromes at the total cost of Rs.4500 crore with the budgetary support of Government of India. As an outcome, small cities/towns shall be connected on commencement of operation of flights to under-served/un-served airports and it will further boost the economic development in these as well as surrounding areas in terms of job creation and related infrastructure development.

Hotel occupancy in Delhi and Pune crossed 70 per cent, according to a latest report by Horwath on ‘India Hotel Market Review 2018’. Delhi has grabbed the opportunity presented by GST replacing a usurious luxury tax with both hands, the report says. It performed well in all the parameters with occupancy rising to 71.7 per cent, ADRs at 7.5 per cent and RevPAR at 11.6 per cent. Aerocity hotels have fully dialled in – rooms demand, ADR and banqueting. Corporate, MiCE and retail business which chose Gurugram over Delhi because of major tax savings under Luxury tax have shown preference for Delhi once an even playing field was created. Aerocity itself has expanded its commercial spaces. Pune, too, had a good year in 2018, crossing 70 per cent occupancy and pushing through over 7 per cent ADR growth to post 11 per cent RevPAR increase. A solid Tier 1 business city, Pune’s growth can be attributed to MiCE and partly to the shift of some IPL games to this city.