The Etihad Aviation Group Board of Directors has appointed Ray Gammell as interim Group CEO, and confirmed that James Hogan, current President and Group CEO, will move on from the company on July 1, 2017. A parallel handover will occur as Ricky Thirion assumes full responsibilities of the Group CFO, James Rigney, who will also leave the company on July 1, 2017. Thirion joined Etihad Airways in 2007 and is the current SVP Group Treasurer. Consistent with the company’s leadership transition plan, Gammell will assume full management responsibilities from today. Gammell is Etihad Aviation Group’s current Chief People & Performance Officer and has been a member of the Executive Leadership since joining the business in 2009, where he has led the creation of a performance culture across the group. H.E. Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Board of the Etihad Aviation Group, commented: “Ray and Ricky are experienced leaders and have the complete confidence of the Board. Ray will now take full management responsibility for the Etihad Aviation Group, ensure a coordinated group approach, and continue to advance the strategic review that was initiated by the Board in 2016 to reposition the business for continued development in what we anticipate being a prolonged period of challenges for global aviation.” “We have strengthened our group leadership with recent appointments and are now in the advanced stages of recruitment for a new Group CEO. The Board has been very pleased with the calibre of candidates, and we expect to make an announcement in the next few weeks.”

The Embassy of the Czech Republic and VFS Global have launched the 13th Czech Republic Visa Application Centre in Puducherry, India, bringing access to visa application facilities for residents of Puducherry. The centre was inaugurated by Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in India, on May 08, 2017. The inauguration was also attended by other key members from the Embassy and VFS Global. This new centre in Puducherry is centrally located at Eswaran Kovil Street. At the launch, Hovorka said, “The launch of the Czech Republic Visa Application Centre in Puducherry reflects the country’s genuine commitment to bolster people-to-people contacts between the two friendly nations by tourism, business and culture. As a result of this policy, the Czech Republic has emerged as one of the most preferred European destination for Indian tourists.” Commenting on the launch, Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer – Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global, said, “We are pleased to further enhance the visa services network for the Czech Republic in India, through the visa application facility in Puducherry. The new centre will serve the ever-increasing volumes of visa applications for the Schengen country, and illustrates the emerging popularity of the Czech Republic as a tourist destination. We are confident that the introduction of professional and hassle-free Czech Republic visa services in Puducherry will be well-received by aspiring travellers from this city.”

The Indian market for Germany is growing strongly at 12.6 per cent till February 2017. India is on track to reach one million overnights by 2020, revealed Romit Theophilus, Director-India, German National Tourist Office (GNTO), on the sidelines of the 43rd Germany Travel Mart (GTM) being held from May 7-9, 2017, in Nuremberg, Bavaria. Speaking at the opening ceremony of GTM 2017, Petra Hedorfer, CEO, German National Tourism Board, said, “A lot has happened all over the world not all of it good. We in Germany stand for openness and tolerance. We welcome people from all nations with great respect from the bottom of our heart.” Emphasising how tourism can build bridges between people and nation’s, she adds, “Let us do everything to ensure that we continue to bring together cultures, people, nation’s from all over the world, wherever it is in Germany.” The event is hosted by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) in cooperation with Bavaria Tourism-the official marketing agency and the Nuremberg Convention and Tourist Office. The mart is a high-calibre forum at which German providers can meet key buyers from the international travel industry.

Air India has deployed its state-of-the-art B777 aircraft on the Delhi-Chennai-Delhi sector. Effective from May 8, the flight will fulfill the increasing demand of passengers travelling on this sector. Air India flight AI-439 departed from Delhi at 0605 hours and reached Chennai at 0845 hours. On its return leg, the AI-430 took off from Chennai at 0955 hours and reached Delhi at 1255 hours. In evening service, AI 042 will leave Delhi at 1720 hours and reach Chennai at 2005 hours. At night, AI 043 will leave Chennai at 2110 hours and will reach at 2355 hours. The 342 seater wide body aircraft offers a three-class configuration, comprising of 4 first class, 35 business class and 303 economy class seats. The aircraft is offering more capacity to meet increase in demand of holiday travellers. It will be a boon to travellers from south India who visits hill stations of north in summer season. The aircraft offers an increased space for cargo, baggage and more seating capacity for the passengers travelling on this sector.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the initiation of the process of disinvestment of hotels/properties of the India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (ITDC). In the first stage of the disinvestment process, three hotels have been taken up for disinvestment—Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati, Hotel Bharatpur Ashok, Bharatpur. In all three cases, the hotels/properties are being given back to the concerned states. In the case of Bhopal and Guwahati, ITDC is divesting its share of 51 per cent in the Joint Venture Company formed for operation of the hotels whereas in the case of Bharatpur, the unit which was only managed by ITDC is being returned to the State Government. The decision on disinvestment has been made, keeping in view that running and managing hotels on professional lines is not the work of the Government or its entities. Further, there has been considerable development in the hospitality sector in the country in past years, with world class hotels and all leading international chains of hotels present in the country and providing services and facilities of highest standards. As part of the disinvestment policy, it has been decided to lease/sub-lease the hotels/properties jointly with the concerned states or return the properties to the states, after fair valuation. The states would then have the option to upgrade and operate the Hotels by involving the private sector or to utilize the properties as per their requirements. States have exercised their options accordingly, in each case going forward with the option best suited to their needs, in line with the overarching principle that it is not the business of Government to run or manage hotels.

Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister for Civil Aviation, and Jayant Sinha, Minister of State, Civil Aviation, have informed that they are revising the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on ‘Handling of unruly/disruptive passengers’. They said that the CAR is being worked on to enhance the safety and security  of passengers, crew as well as airlines. R.N. Choubey, Secretary for Civil Aviation, gave details of the draft CAR and revealed that CAR defines three levels of unruly behaviours viz. Level 1 – disruptive behaviour, Level 2 – physically abusive behaviour and Level 3 – Life- threatening behaviour. Under CAR, the Airlines will maintain a database of such passengers which will form a National  No-fly List of unruly/disruptive passengers.  Individuals identified by MHA as national security threats will also form part of the National No-Fly List. Such names will be forwarded to the individuals by the airlines indicating the reasons for inclusion of their names in the National NO-Fly List.  For passengers indicated in the National No-Fly List, airlines will have option to bar the unruly passenger from taking flights to/form/within India for a period ranging from 03 months to a maximum of two years depending upon level of unruly behaviour.  For every subsequent offence, the person will be banned for twice the period of previous ban. He also informed that CAR provides for two tiers of complaint handling mechanism in such cases, viz. initial inquiry at airlines level by an internal committee headed by a retired District & Sessions Judge and an appeal at Govt. headed by Retired Judge of a High Court of India.  The Secretary informed that other airlines as well as international airlines were free to take cognisance of No …

Air India has finally disclosed the final Scandinavian destination for its new flight from Delhi—Stockholm. Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial, Air India, revealed, “As of now, it’s quite possible that we will be flying to Stockholm. Most probably, the operations for the same will start from August 15. However, there is little work left on the same, and hopefully we would be able to make an official statement for the same in the next one week.”

Travel Agents Association of India – Northern Region (TAAI-NR) welcomed Cristina Ionela Tarteata, Deputy Minister, Tourism, Government of Romania and H.E. Radu Octavian Dobre, Charge d’affaires, Romanian Embassy in New Delhi, to present the destination to its members. The minister made a small presentation at the event, and said that they want Indians to consider Romania as a destination of choice for leisure as well as business travels. She also answered questions by the TAAI-NR members and urged them to promote Romania in their itineraries. Before the presentation, TAAI-NR team, presided by Chairman Rajan Sehgal also held its members’ meet and updated members about what the association is doing.  

The Student of the Year contest, powered by InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), took place at Ibis New Delhi Aerocity in an attempt to hone budding talent from tourism institutes to launch dream careers for the best candidates. The final round of the contest was held amongst five finalists who presented on a tourism-related topic, and were judged by an esteemed panel consisting of Ashish Kumar, Managing Partner, Agnitio Consulting; Geeta Jain, CEO, Carlson Wagonlit Travel India; and Prof. (Dr) M Sajnani, Director – Tourism Management, Amity Institute of Travel and Tourism. Anil Parashar, President and CEO, ITQ, said, “The contest has been growing every year and this time, a total of 160 colleges participated in this out of which five reached the finals. Student of the Year aims to give the best talent from tourism universities a chance to acquire the ideal skill-set for a technology-first future, and is our way of ensuring a win-win situation for the student, as well at the industry. Elaborating on the same, Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Financial Officer, ITQ, stated, “Our idea is to give students from the industry a platform to showcase their talent and fast-forward their career. This is our anvil event and since several of the participants are from different corners of the country, we would like to make it regional in the coming future so that more students get a chance to participate.” Also present on the occasion for the awards ceremony were Cristina Ionela Tarteata, Deputy Minister – Tourism, Government of Romania, along with His Excellency Radu Octavian Dobre, Chargé d’Affairs, Romanian Embassy in New Delhi, India.   

Starting May, Pacific Travels has become the solely authorised visa submission and processing centre for an Iran business and tourist visa. The centre accepts submission of business, tourist and pilgrimage visas currently with a processing time of 3 working days. According to Nasir Zaidi, Managing Partner, “Thanks to the increased connectivity between India and Iran, the centre receives nearly 600 – 800 visa applications on a weekly basis, with corporate and tourist visas accounting for nearly 30 % of the total visa applications.” Pilgrimage visa though still accounts for the bulk of the visa application for Iran.