IATA has sent out a circular to all BSP India agents that includes a six-page ‘Code of Conduct’ issued by Delta Air Lines this week. This information was uploaded and provided to the agents through BSPLink at the request of the airline. This includes Air France, KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines. The document contains five main points. It touches on the subject of fares, redistribution of carrier content, rules about intellectual property, customer service and consequences of non-compliance with the Agent Code of Conduct. These include: cancelling the agent’s Electronic Ticketing Authority, withdrawing authority to issue traffic documents on the carrier’s behalf, and terminating IATA Resolution 824 – Passenger Sales Agency Agreement by withdrawing carrier’s appointment of the agent. IATA has asked agents to communicate with the airline directly in case of any clarifications.

Air India set a record with its longest non-stop flight from Delhi to San Francisco. The Boeing 777-200 long range aircraft took the Pacific route instead of the Atlantic route, adding an additional 1400 km to the route but was completed in 14 and a half hours, two hours lesser than the conventional flight due to the helpful tailwinds. “From October 15, the flight which connected Delhi and San Francisco via the Atlantic route has begun operations on the Pacific route and returns on the Atlantic route, making it the only flight that goes around the world,” says Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial and Board Member, Air India. This route also saved around 13 tons of fuel. Air India currently operates flights on the Delhi-San Francisco route three times a week but its growing popularity has prompted the airline to double this from November, flying east each time for the next six months. Inputs from: The Telegraph UK

Singapore will continue to be home to the next three editions of ITB Asia. Messe Berlin, the organisers of the event, have announced the extension of its partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) from 2017 – 2019, as it looks to continue supporting ITB Asia’s impact in the region. This also marks Singapore as the official partner country for 2017. The next three editions of ITB Asia will take place from October 25–27, 2017, October 17–19, 2018, and October 16–18, 2019. Dr. Martin Buck, Senior Vice President, Messe Berlin GmbH, said, “Next year, ITB Asia will be momentous as we celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary. Visitors, delegates and partners can expect a dedicated ‘Corporate Travel Day’ and ‘Hotel Day’, lined up with an exciting full day of conference programmes catered to these fast-growing sectors.” Melissa Ow, Deputy Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, added, “ITB Asia has grown well since its inaugural show in 2008, delivering strong content and memorable experiences for delegates over the past nine years. We look forward to working with Messe Berlin to further entrench it as the leading travel tradeshow in the Asia-Pacific region.” The ninth edition of ITB Asia brought together 846 exhibitors from 110 countries, and 895 buyers. The show also attracted more than 10,876 attendees.

Marriott International together with Sabre Hospitality Solutions unveiled a new distribution and booking solution, www.MarriottWholesalers.com, that provides thousands of authorized wholesalers, destination marketing companies, and tour operators access to real‐time rates and inventory for more than 4,200 Marriott properties around the world. The solution is part of Marriott’s strategy to transform the wholesale and leisure segment with technology and shift to dynamic rates and automated reservations, replacing antiquated processes for contracting, accessing inventory and booking hotel rooms. Approved wholesalers can now search real time hotel net rates and inventory globally to create tailor‐made packages for their customers. All hotel bookings are confirmed instantly online. The solution provides significant value to smaller wholesalers by removing the need for them to make a technology investment to gain direct, dynamic access to rates and inventory. The solution will make it more efficient than ever to distribute Marriott’s inventory to the broader leisure package segment. Wholesalers can establish or renew access in seven languages at MarriottWholesalers.com and once authenticated, they immediately have access to the booking engine.

JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts continues to expand its luxury portfolio with the opening of its eighth hotel in India, JW Marriott Hotel Kolkata. This is Marriott International’s first hotel in Kolkata and East India and is located in the heart of the city, minutes from the old central business district. Comprising of 281 rooms, JW Marriott Hotel Kolkata, boasts the largest ballroom in the city and features a unique bridal room, offering brides an exclusive, private space available for pre-wedding preparations. In addition to 38,370 square feet of indoor and outdoor event spaces measuring, the hotel offers five intimate studios for meetings, each one equipped with cutting-edge facilities. The hotel is also home to India’s largest in-built video wall measuring 32 feet x 18 feet and comprising 64 LED panels. “The opening of the first JW Marriott hotel in Kolkata marks a great milestone for Marriott International. It was a matter of time before we presented one of our luxury brands –JW Marriott – to the city of Kolkata. JW Marriott is globally renowned for its intuitive service and commitment to providing guests with truly enriching luxurious experiences,” says Neeraj Govil, Area Vice President, South Asia, Marriott International. The other facilities include a range of premium F&B and entertainment options, a roof top lounge on the 24th floor, wellness facilities including the brand’s signature spa, an outdoor infinity pool with Jaccuzzi and private cabanas for guests to unwind and relax and a fully-equipped 24-hour Fitness Centre. “We look forward to presenting our discerning guests with signature JW Marriott experiences where they leave feeling enriched. Our team is confident the hotel will be recognised as the most stylish and sought-after …

Air India has launched a new app to its more than 18-million passengers which will take the user experience to a new level. Built on SITA’s iTravel platform, the Air India app offers the ability to book and pay for a flight by quickly and securely scanning both passport and credit card. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and MD, Air India, said, “Mobile apps are becoming an important tool for making travel bookings by passengers who are tech-savvy and like to access information on the go. This mobile app provides Air India the right tool to access a growing passenger market that is connected both in India and beyond. The new app, developed by SITA, provides an elevated mobile experience where passengers can easily manage every step of their journey on their phone or tablet no matter where they are.” Passengers can fully manage their booking from their mobile device, including selecting their seat, making changes to their itinerary, buying additional services, choosing their meal and checking in. The app has also been integrated with Air India’s Flying Returns loyalty program where passengers can securely access details of points earned or other updates to their accounts.Today more than one billion Indians use a mobile phone. Of these, more than 300 million regularly use them to access the Internet, a trend that is expected to grow by 56 per cent per year. The new mobile service will be available on Android, iOS and Windows. This means at check-in, passengers can choose to receive their boarding pass on their phone or smartwatch. At the airport, passengers will receive regular updates on their flights and can use the app for mobile boarding. Maneesh Jaikrishna, SITA’s …

Japan Tourism is expanding its presence in India with a new office in Delhi scheduled to commence operations by the end of the year. This was announced at the first ever India-Japan Tourism Meet organised by FICCI in New Delhi from Oct 24-25, 2016. Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Immediate Past President-FICCI, Chairperson -FICCI Tourism Committee said, “Japan is the 10th largest source market for India with around 2.07 lakh Japanese arrivals in 2015. India has a very high potential to be one of the favoured destinations amongst the Japanese tourists, given the large number of destinations important from Buddhist interest as well as the burgeoning number of business tourists coming to India.” Giving his opinion on the summit, H.E. Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India, said that with the framework of Indo-Japan Tourism Council and Indo-Japan Tourism Summit, the industry should pursue action-oriented outcomes to improve travel and tourism relationship between Japan and India in a visible way. “This is a great opportunity for both governments and tourism industry to get together under one roof and to discuss the expansion of bilateral travel and tourism relations. The new networks that will be built among the participants today will create new opportunities,” he added.

To mark its 10 years in India, Air China announced the resumption of its non-stop service between Beijing and Mumbai from Oct 30, 2016. The flight Mumbai, India to Beijing, P.R.China will operate four times in a week i.e., Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Passengers will also have return flight services from Beijing, P.R. China to Mumbai, India four times a week i.e., Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday. Airbus A330-300 has a seating capacity of 301 passengers which offers 30 seats in Business class, 16 seats in Premium Economy and 255 seats in Economy Class. The outbound flight will depart from Mumbai at 02:30 IST and arrive in Beijing at 11:30 CST. The return flight will depart from Beijing at 19:40 CST and will arrive next day in Mumbai at 01:00 IST. In its endeavor to build its brand and increase loyalty among travellers, the airline has launched an offer of 30 per cent discount on base fare.

Lemon Tree Hotels has announced the opening of two new hotels – the Lemon Tree Hotel, Candolim in Goa and the Lemon Tree Wildlife Resort, Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh. The Lemon Tree Hotel Candolim is the group’s second property in Goa. The hotel offers 34 rooms, with base category rooms measuring around 27 square meters. It also features an all-day dining restaurant, a terrace-top bar, a rooftop swimming pool and a conference room of approximately 800 square feet. The Lemon Tree Wildlife Resort, Bandhavgarh is located in close proximity to Tala Gate, the most tiger inhabited zone of the Bandhavgarh National Park, and marks the group’s entry into the wildlife resort segment. Spread over five acres, the hotel features 11 cottages measuring approximately 34 square meters, an all-day dining restaurant, a swimming pool and a 480-square-foot conference hall.

Hahn Air announced that this year it has already integrated 40 new carriers into its global network of more than 300 air, rail and shuttle partners. Of the 40 new partnerships, 20 are new interline agreements with airlines that are now available on the HR-169 ticket under their own designator. Among them are Air Corsica (XK), CityJet (WX), Blue Air (0B), Jetstar Group, People’s Viennaline (PE), FlyOne (5F) and Myanmar National Airlines (UB). With its ticketing solutions, the German IATA airline facilitates global business between travel agencies and airlines. Its global infrastructure consisting of connections to all major Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and memberships in almost all Billing and Settlement Plans (BSPs) enables 95,000 travel agents worldwide to issue transportation services of Hahn Air partners on the HR-169 ticket. In addition, the Hahn Air Group welcomed 20 new partners of the consolidation service Hahn Air Systems. Under the reservation codes H1 and 5W, travel agents can book transportation services of partners that do not have a GDS presence of their own and can issue them on the HR-169 ticket. 2016 saw agreements with Borajet Airlines (YB), JetAir operated by Titan Airways (ZT), T’way Airlines (TW) and SpiceJet (SG), to name a few. “With our services, we provide the missing link in airline distribution”, says Steve Knackstedt, Vice President Airline Business Group at Hahn Air. “As it is generally not financially sustainable for an airline to be a member of all BSPs and GDSs in the world, not all travel agents are able to sell tickets of all airlines. For example, a travel agent in South America may not be able to issue a ticket of a local Asian carrier in …