Category Archives: Associations

Sameer Karnani, Managing Committee Member of TAAI, & Owner of Arunodaya Travels, says that there are not many TAAI members registered by India Tourism. “This is not giving us the right kind of platform when we are talking to the ministry, and more members should register themselves with the MoT. The issue with this is the criterion for staff where IATA-approved staff is not recognised. It needs to be tourism trained staff only, and this is very hard to find,” he says.

Pushing the agenda for the hospitality sector, Pradeep Shetty, President, HRAWI, says, “Apart from our longest standing demands for Industry and Infrastructure statuses, we urge the Government to streamline regulatory processes to facilitate Ease of Doing business. Simplifying license procurement, reducing bureaucracy and clarifying regulations will promote growth and innovation within the sector.”

PATA has announced its new Executive Board. Peter Semone will be the Chair for a second term. Suman Pandey as the Vice Chair, and Luzi Matzig as the treasurer. Noor Ahmad Hamid, PATA, CEO remains on the board as an ex-officio member. Executive Board members are Ben Montgomery, Henry Oh, Noredah Othman, Mayur Patel, Gerald Perez, and SanJeet.

IndiGo will host the 81st IATA AGM and World Air Transport Summit in Delhi, India, in June 2025. Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo, said, “IndiGo will be the host airline, and this is an important moment for us to showcase how India has changed and the developments in its aviation sector. We will closely collaborate with the government and policymakers to address all relevant issues and highlight India’s transition from a predominantly domestic market to a global aviation giant.”

Paramprit Singh Bakshi, Vice-President, CAPA India, said, “Amid strong demand and “unprecedented investment in aircraft orders, product, brand, technology, the Indian airport industry’s profit before tax (PBT) is expected to grow by 35 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 10,370 crore in the financial year 2024-25 (FY25)”. The industry, in FY24, is estimated to have had a PBT of Rs 7,680 crore, which was 134.1 per cent more Y-o-Y as the airport sector recovered after Covid-19.

At the CAPA India Aviation Summit 2024, Arun Bansal, CEO, Adani Airport Holding, said, “We are preparing NMIA to meet travellers aspirations from day one. The Navi Mumbai airport will be the most digitised airport from day one. We are actively working with airlines for slot allocation between CSMIA and NMIA for fair play.”

Focusing on benefits of attending PATA Travel Mart 2024, Noor Ahmad, CEO, PATA, revealed that the event is expected to witness 57% participation from the leisure segment buyers and 31% from buyers with M!CE & leisure (both), while 8% from MICE segment. The PATA Travel Mart 2024 is scheduled from August 27-29, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Kapil Kaul, CEO & Director, CAPA India, addressing the CAPA India Aviation Summit said, “India’s airline fleet is set to double by FY2030. It took the Indian industry around 90 years from the time of the first commercial flight to reach a fleet size of 700 aircraft. But the rate of growth is so strong that carriers could add a further 600-700 aircraft in just the next 5-7 years.”

Airlines must stay vigilant about governments “going rogue” on globally agreed aviation standards, as the Dutch government did when it moved to cut Amsterdam Schiphol Airport’s capacity without consultation, Willie Walsh, Director General IATA, said. Such actions had the potential to create a retaliatory mess, he warned.

Kapil Kaul, CEO & Director, CAPA India, addressing the CAPA India Aviation Summit said, “The industry’s average fare in FY2024 was almost the same as in FY2023. IndiGo’s average airfare in FY2024 was just 1.3% higher than FY2023 but 36% higher compared to FY2020.”