Tom Klein, president and CEO of Sabre Corporation announced that he will step down from his role, as well as from the Board of Directors effective December 31, 2016. He will continue to serve as CEO till the board finds a suitable successor. He said, “It’s a tremendous honour to serve as president and CEO of Sabre and to work with our talented team around the globe. We have transformed Sabre into a dynamic software company and the business is positioned for continued consistent growth, so my successor will have a strong hand to play.” Klein’s career with Sabre began while it was still a unit of AMR Corp., where he originally held sales and marketing roles with American Airlines, and then joined Sabre, leading a joint venture in Mexico. He went on to serve in a number of executive roles, including group president of both Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Airline Solutions. He was named president of Sabre in 2010 and CEO in 2013.

The Ministry of AYUSH is organising a two day International Conference in New Delhi titled ‘Yoga for Body and Beyond,’ from June 22-23 at Vigyan Bhawan as part of 2nd International Day of Yoga celebrations. Nearly 70 international delegates from 32 countries are expected to participate in the conference. The countries include Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria, Malaysia, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Australia, Belgium, China, Egypt, Iceland, Japan, Kuwait, Korea, Kenya, Slovenia, Uzbekistan and UAE. Anil Kumarsingh Gayan, Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Government of Mauritius, is expected to attend the conference. During the nine technical sessions of the Conference eminent Yoga Gurus, exponents and experts will extensively deliberate upon various themes such as ‘Yoga and Physical Wellbeing’, ‘Insights from Yoga Scholars’, ‘Integration of Yoga in Healthcare Delivery System’, ‘Yoga for Mental health’, ‘Yoga for Body and Beyond’. There will also be a panel discussion and an open ended session on experience sharing by foreign delegates. Hamid Ansari, Vice President, Government of India, will Inaugurate the conference. Sumitra Mahajan, Lok Sabha Speaker, will grace the Valedictory Session on June 23 while Shripad Yesso Naik Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, will be the Guest of Honour for the conference.

According to data released by DGCA, passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-May 2016 were 396.04 lakhs as against 322.32 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 22.87% . The statistics revealed that the passenger load factor in the month of May 2016 has slightly increased compared to previous month primarily due to the onset of tourist season. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of May 2016 has been 0.55%. Air Asia has been leading in terms of On Time Performance (OTP) at 90.2 per cent leaving behind Vistara and Indigo. SpiceJet emerged as the winner again in Passenger Load Factor (PLF) at 93.5 per cent.

The Government will now permit 100% FDI in Brownfield airport projects under automatic route, extending the earlier cap of 74 per cent. The extant FDI policy on Airports permits 100% FDI under automatic route in Greenfield Projects. As per the present FDI policy, foreign investment up to 49% was allowed under automatic route in Scheduled Air Transport Service/ Domestic Scheduled Passenger Airline and regional Air Transport Service. It has now been decided to raise this limit to 100%, with FDI up to 49% permitted under automatic route and FDI beyond 49% through Government approval. For NRIs, 100% FDI will continue to be allowed under automatic route. However, foreign airlines would continue to be allowed to invest in capital of Indian companies operating scheduled and non-scheduled air-transport services up to the limit of 49% of their paid up capital and subject to the laid down conditions in the existing policy. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems celebrated the foundation laying of a new facility in Hyderabad for its joint venture named TATA Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL). The joint venture has been established to co-produce Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages and other aerostructures, as well as to pursue integrated systems in aerospace. The Hyderabad production facility will eventually be the sole producer of AH-64 fuselages globally. The Apache has been flown or selected for acquisition by the United States and 15 other nations, including India. Participating in the ceremony were Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister, Government of India; K. T. Rama Rao,  Minister of IT and Industries & Commerce, Telangana; and other dignitaries from the Telangana government. “The joint venture between Tata and Boeing is a significant step in developing India’s capabilities for aerospace & defence manufacturing and becoming a global exporter. This is a clear example of the significant progress made towards “Make in India for defence,” said Parrikar, Union Defence Minister. “I am delighted to see Boeing and Tata step forward and make this substantial investment, in defence FDI.” Speaking on the occasion, S. Ramadorai, Chairman of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), said, “Today’s ground-breaking ceremony is a significant milestone in furthering our commitment to the Indian aerospace sector. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 this partnership could boost the emerging manufacturing sector, contributing to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Make in India. I am positive that this joint venture which brings together the core strengths of both companies will help take this strategic relationship to the next level.” “This joint venture is an exciting advancement for Boeing in leveraging our capital and expertise globally,” said Pratyush Kumar, …

Jet Airways has introduced #JetAdvance where flyers will have the flexibility to change their booking to an earlier flight for a nominal fee. This customer-centric initiative is applicable for flights across the Jet Airways domestic network and offers guests the opportunity to travel on an earlier flight. This new feature will help guests in reaching their destination ahead of schedule with greater ease and convenience. This facility will be applicable for flights with departure time difference of maximum of 4 hrs. Guests are required to be physically present at the airport for managing the booking. The request for time change will be confirmed at the check-in counter, subject to availability of seats and for a fee of Rs 1,000 per guest per flight. This new feature is not applicable for guests booked under group fares. Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways, said : “The comfort and convenience of guests is our utmost priority. This new feature demonstrates Jet Airways’ continued commitment to the ‘Guest First’ philosophy. We understand the need of guests having to save precious time while travelling between important engagements. With the introduction of this feature, Jet Airways has yet again raised the industry benchmark for customer experience.”

In a first, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has partnered with State Government to set up separate tourism bureaus for Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati. Besides tourism promotion, CII wanted to play a facilitator’s role to woo investments in industries, IT and promote MSME and skill development in a big way in AP post-bifurcation. This figured prominently at the strategy session of CII to finalise its roadmap for 2016-17. CII-AP chairman G.S. Shiv Kumar and vice-chairman J.S.R.K. Prasad told reporters on Saturday. CII committee on tourism convener Neeraj Sarda said the first bureau would be set up for promoting tourism in Visakhapatnam in September. He said a comprehensive website would be created by involving all the stakeholders in the bureau to woo investors and facilitate development of a complete ecosystem. Sarda said building brand image for Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati was their top priority. A CII team comprising Shiv Kumar and Sarda recently visited Puducherry to find out the reasons for their success story.

To promote Buddhist Circuit and attract more tourists from Thailand, the Government of India will soon facilitate a double entry e-tourist visa (eTV) for Thai visitors, revealed PM Narendra Modi while addressing the Thai Prime Minister, Chan-o-cha, and other senior Thai delegates’ visit to India. About 10 lakh Indian tourists visit Thailand every year while about one lakh tourists from Thailand come to India, he said. He also announced that to commemorate 70 years of establishment of diplomatic relations, the Festival of India will be held in Thailand and India will celebrate the Festival of Thailand next year.

Udai Pratap Singh has joined the Ministry of Tourism as Additional Secretary. He succeeds Girish Shankar. The 1984-batch senior IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre was previously the Resident Commissioner of Jharkhand in NCR before which he was posted as Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister, Jharkhand Bhavan, New Delhi.

Starting July 1, Indian Railways will implement new passenger-friendly rules. One of the rules is that passengers will get a 50 per cent refund of the amount paid for a tatkal ticket. The tatkal window for AC coach will be open between 10-11 AM and fir sleeper coach, the timing would be 11-12 PM. In case of Suvidha trains, tickets will only be issued for confirmed and RAC passengers. Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains will have more coaches. In fact, Rajdhani and Shatabdi will go paperless and only mobile tickets will be valid on these trains. IRCTC will start ticket bookings in various languages. Passengers will get a wake up call in the trains. The waiting list system on trains will now come to an end and tickets will be issued only for confirmed and RAC bookings.