Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

In a webinar organised by GPS and TravTalk ‘Understanding TCS’, speakers seconded the thought that the advanced tax is part of national building exercise and get the important industry affiliation from the government. The presentation also explained the reason why TCS is the level playing field for everyone. Myths and queries regarding the tax were also deciphered.

During ITB Asia, Alexandre de Juniac, DG& CEO, IATA, said, “Quarantine measures are killing the industry’s recovery. In August, international travel was still 88% below previous years’ levels. That aligns with 83% of travellers indicating that they will not travel if there is a chance of being quarantined at their destinations.”

New Indian regional airline, FlyBig is all set to commence operations from 15th November as it decided to make Indore make the base city of operations. DGCA has given its clearance for maintenance setup. FlyBig’s first aircraft has already been imported from Australia. It plans to launch direct flights to Bhopal, Jabalpur and also to northeast under UDAN.  

A study conducted by United Airlines and Department of Defense, US says the risk of COVID-19 exposure onboard its aircraft is “virtually non-existent”. It was found that when masks are worn there is only a 0.003% chance particles from a passenger can enter the passenger’s breathing space who is sitting beside them. It indicates that being on board an aircraft is the safest indoor public space, because of the unique configuration inside an aircraft that includes aggressive ventilation, lots of airflow. They ran 300 tests in a little over six months with a mannequin on a United plane. The mannequin was equipped with an aerosol generator that allowed technicians to reproduce breathing and coughing. Each test released 180 million particles – equivalent to the number of particles that would be produced by thousands of coughs. They studied the way the mannequin’s particles moved inside the cabin with a mask on and off. The tests assumed the flight was completely full with technicians placing sensors in seats, galleys, and the jet bridge to represent other passengers on the plane. Last week, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released new research, saying the risk of contracting the virus on a plane appears to be “in the same category as being struck by lightning.”  

VFS Global has been appointed as the exclusive service provider for visa, OCI, passport, renunciation of Indian citizenship, and Global Entry Programme (GEP) verification services for Indian, US and third-country citizens in the in the United States. From November 2020, you can visit India Consular Application Centres in six cities: Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, India visa services remain suspended; re-start date to be announced according to directives of the Embassy of India in USA. In these cities, VFS Global will provide the following services for Indian or US citizens, and for third-country nationals, from November 2020: Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) application, passport application, renunciation of Indian citizenship and Global Entry Programme (GEP) verification services. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, India visa services remain suspended at present. The re-start date for visa services will be announced according to directives of the Embassy of India in USA. The centres will be equipped with world-class facilities aimed at providing an easily accessible and a superior application experience for customers and will make the application process more convenient for travellers. These services are expected to benefit the over 4 million-strong Indian diaspora community in the United States, as well as customers who apply for India visas from the US. Customers can visit https://www.indianembassyusa.gov.in or the latest information on the services offered. VFS Global has been serving the Government of India since 2008. The United States is the 12th country in which VFS Global will provide passport, visa and consular services for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. At present, VFS Global manages 44 Passport and Visa Application Centres for the Government of India in 11 …

All arriving international passengers, including residents of Delhi-NCR or passengers intending to undertake onward domestic connection, can now avail the COVID-RT PCR testing facility at Delhi Airport and get an exemption from institution quarantine. Quick bookings and rapid results are aimed at making travel experience seamless.

Angel Llull Mancas, Vice President & Managing Director (Asia Pacific), Booking.com, said in his keynote address at ITB Asia, that one of the things to do in the new reality is instil trust in the minds of air travellers and create content accordingly. He revealed that 87% of APAC consumers expect to make changes to the way they travel, while 60% of them increasingly use the words ‘clean’ and ‘hygiene’ in their search.

According to a recent survey by Travel Consul, to study the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and the future recovery of global travel distribution, 42% of the respondents said that though their country reopened cautiously, the epidemic was still on the rise. More than 1,000 travel executives (tour operators and agency owners) participated from more than 20 countries in the global survey.

Hermione Joye, Sector Lead, Travel and Vertical Search, APAC, Google, in her keynote address at the ITB Asia, is that the demand for staycation in the APAC region is very high. “The demand for staycation is three times the demand since January, which is great news for hotels and operators across the board. This means that its important to focus on messaging and what’s top of the mind of the travellers now—the leisure experience,” she shared.

Sharing details about the India-Germany flights under the two-month air bubble arrangement, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted ‘Lufthansa will operate four days a week from Delhi, three days a week from Mumbai and three days from Bengaluru. Air India will operate five weekly flights from Delhi and two every week from Bengaluru to Frankfurt’.