Ratnagiri Airport, a defence airport as on date, is all set to start civil air operations soon. An MoU is being signed between Airport Authority of India and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on March 5, 2019, which will facilitate in activating Ratnagiri Airport for Regional Connectivity Scheme operations under UDAN scheme of Ministry of Civil Aviation. The MoU stipulates AAI to provide all support for activation of the airport including CNS/ATM services, and MIDC to provide infrastructure for handling of aircrafts and passengers such as building passenger terminal, apron and taxiway for commencing RCS operations. Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu has been speaking with all stakeholders such as the Ministry of Defence, the Maharashtra State Government and the Airport Authority of India to make Ratnagiri airport a civilian airport. Speaking on the MoU, the Minister said: “We are fully committed to start air operations from Ratnagiri at the earliest. Bids under UDAN 3.1 have already been invited for operations for Ratnagiri-Mumbai-Ratnagiri sector. In order to speed up the work of construction of civil terminal and establishing navigation facilities, AAI is ready to work with MIDC and an MoU is being signed between AAI and MIDC in this regard on 5th March, 2019. We fully support and are committed to early operationalization of both Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri airports to boost tourism and economy of the Konkan Region”.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has given its approval for development of new greenfield airport at Hirasar in Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs.1405 crore. The existing airport at Rajkot is severely land constrained having only 236 acres (approx.) of land and situated in the heart of city. This Airport suffers from considerable capacity restraints due to presence of residential & commercial buildings around it. Railway line and State Highway located around the airport on eastern side also prohibits the extension of runway. Thus there is no feasibility to expand the airport on city or airside, hence possibility of operating wide bodied aircrafts at the existing airport location is ruled out. Rajkot is the fourth largest city in the state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara. The city is the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat and the 35thlargest urban agglomeration in India with a population more than 1.2 million as of 2015. It is also the 22nd fastest growing city in the world. Considering the constraints and compulsions with respect to existing airport, State Government desires to develop a new Greenfield Airport in Rajkot. Government of Gujarat has identified required land for the new airport and requested Airports Authority of India to develop, operate and maintain the new airport

Vistara has announced the addition of 16 new flights to its schedule including recent new destination announcements. The new daily flights include flights to newly announced destinations Raipur and Dibrugarh, new route Delhi – Jammu, and additional frequencies on existing routes. With these additions, Delhi – Chandigarh and Delhi – Srinagar will now operate 2x daily, Delhi – Bhubaneshwar 3x daily, and Delhi – Kolkata 4x daily. While some of the additions are seasonal, the majority are for year-round operations. Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Vistara, said, “Vistara is pleased to announce new destinations, flights, and frequencies in response to high demand from customers and corporates alike. We continue to carefully evaluate new route and destination possibilities, and will be adding more flights as we add aircraft to the fleet over the next fiscal year.One of the things we hear most from our customers is that they wish we had a larger network and more frequencies, and we are working hard to achieve that step by step as demand for our flights grow and we get new aircraft. We are also pleased that in recent weeks we have increased Delhi – Bangalore service to 6x daily as well.”

Accor is set to launch a new lifestyle brand in the mid-scale segment, called TRIBE. The new brand will reshape the traditional hotel experience, enabling guests to live, work and play in contemporary interiors. With a flexible and unique model, the new TRIBE concept targets an international clientele of regular travellers. Whether traveling for business or leisure purposes, the TRIBE community is just like today’s men and women: independent, curious and adventurous.

In its 8th edition, ‘Where Else’ conference is the official tourism conference held annually by the Israel Ministry of Tourism for the world travel fraternity. The week-long convention from February 7-13, was attended by 80 travel agents from 18 countries. In attendance were six top travel agents from India such as Odyssey Tours and Travels, A Travel Duet – Celebrating Togetherness, Bigbreaks.com, Gainwell Enterprises, Quintessential Vacations and Swastika Holiday Solutions. The group explored the culturally rich Old City of Jerusalem, home to the world’s three largest religions with its holy sites and breath-taking biblical landscapes as well as emerging culinary, art and nightlife scenes. Furthermore, they visited the modern city of Tel Aviv, charming town of Jaffa, Dead Sea and Masada region followed by a tour of Herzliya in the central coast of Israel. In addition to this, business meetings were held between the Indian delegates and Israeli wholesalers and hoteliers. With a grand opening ceremony in Tel Aviv, senior members of the tourism industry from around the world participated in tours of key sites in Israel with support from the regional Tourism Associations, Hotels Association and the Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association. The purpose of the conference was to expose attendees to the travel brands in Israel alongside the country’s recreation, entertainment and leisure choices. Speaking about the familiarization trip, Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism – India and Philippines said, “Israel is currently witnessing tremendous momentum in tourism with a record of 4.12 million tourists in 2018. Arrivals from India have also increased to 70,800 visitors last year making it the 12th source market for the destination. Bearing this in mind, it was imperative for us to …

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has opened online applications for buyers and sellers wishing to attend the Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) to be held between 5-7 June at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Pattaya. Online applications will be open until 29 March, 2019. This is the second consecutive year that Thailand’s largest annual B2B tourism and travel trade event is being held at the marina. The event is designed largely to give the emerging generation of creative small- and medium-sized enterprises, especially those which cannot afford to attend international trade shows, an opportunity to network with international buyers. This year, the theme of the ‘New Shades of Emerging Destinations’ is designed to encourage visitors to explore the new shades of Thailand in the 55 provinces identified as emerging destinations or the ‘hidden gems’ throughout the country. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, said: “Although Thailand is one country, every place has its own character. There’s more to Thailand than Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket waiting for visitors to discover. TAT is also trying to expose businesses from the emerging destinations to the international audiences in this year’s TTM+.” He said that as part of the focus on responsible tourism development and to make the TTM+ 2019 a green event, TAT will continue last year’s campaign to cut back on plastic usage. Thai sellers will also be partly selected on the basis of their environmental commitment. First organised in 2001, the TTM+ today attracts about 350 sellers, primarily from Thailand with a small number from the neighbouring GMS countries. About 300 buyers from roughly 60 countries are fully hosted, but the event is also open to those wishing to attend on …

Jet Airways passengers, whose flight is cancelled, will not be able to travel with Air India and Vistara, as the full-service carriers have cut cordial agreements with the airline. Both Air India and Vistara have cancelled the Flight Interruption Manifest (FIM) agreement and Interline Ticketing Agreement Facility with Jet Airways. This move comes after 15 of Jet Airways’ flights were grounded because of non-payment to lessors, and the airline had to cancel many flights for the same reason. Under an FIM agreement between two airlines, when any schedule change happens in any of the airline in the alliance, the other airline accommodates those stranded passengers on their airline. The FIM, in such a situation, acts like a substitute ticket for the stranded passenger. As a result, the affected airline reimburses the said amount of the ticket to the other airline. Even Vistara has reportedly ended its interline ticketing agreement facility with Jet Airways. Because of this facility, Jet Airways could book their passengers on a Vistara flight at a pre-determined price.

GoAir has launched four new flights between Kannur International Airport (CNN) and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH), connecting the two cities with flights operating every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. A statement released by the airline revealed that the inaugural flight from Kannur to Abu Dhabi landed on March 2. Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir, said Abu Dhabi was the airline’s fourth international destination after Phuket, Male and Muscat, and 28th destination sequentially. “GoAir is delighted to partner with Abu Dhabi Airports. It is heartening to note that both GoAir and Abu Dhabi Airports were established in 2006 and are celebrating 13th anniversaries this year,” he said. Bryan Thompson, CEO, Abu Dhabi Airports, said, “India is a key travel market for Abu Dhabi International Airport and we are always eager to strengthen our connectivity to the Indian subcontinent, enhancing further our services extended to our dear customers.”

SpiceJet has announced commencement of flights to Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Jharsugudam Odisha from Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata under the UDAN scheme from March 31. “SpiceJet is delighted to provide direct air connectivity from Jharsuguda, one of Odisha’s biggest manufacturing hubs and a top investment destination, to key metro cities and beyond. We will launch daily direct flights on the Jharsuguda-Delhi, Jharsuguda-Hyderabad and Jharsuguda-Kolkata sectors from March 31,” said Ajay Singh,CMD, SpiceJet. Starting the booking of flights on Wednesday, the budget carrier also announced introductory promotional fare starting Rs3,701 all-inclusive on Delhi-Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda-Delhi and Jharsuguda-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Jharsuguda routes, and Rs2,560 all-inclusive on Jharsuguda-Kolkata and Kolkata-Jharsuguda routes. The Veer Surendra Sai Airport is Odisha’s second biggest and the only one to handle civil commercial operations after the Bhubaneswar Airport. According to SpiceJet, it is the first carrier to connect Jharsuguda with Delhi and Hyderabad. With the addition of these flights, SpiceJet will be operating 29 daily flights under UDAN. At present, it operates 23 flights under UDAN.

After emerging the single largest bidder to operate and upgrade five airports up for privatisation by Airport Authority of India (AAI), the Adani Group has also won rights for Guwahati International Airport, which takes the group’s tally to manage six airports. By quoting Rs 160 as per passenger fare for the airport, the group has emerged as the highest bidder pipping state-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) by a margin of Rs 5. With this, Adani Group has won bids to operate all six airports- Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangalore, Trivandrum, Lucknow and Guwahati. The government last year put up these six AAI-run airports for privatisation under the public private partnership mode. A total of 32 technical bids were received from 10 companies to operate the six airports.