Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Aviation regulator DGCA has directed all domestic and international carriers to “scrupulously” follow the fresh travel restrictions announced by the government on Monday, which cover countries from the European Union and the UK, and Turkey. With cases of coronavirus swelling in the country, the government on Monday prohibited entry of passengers from EU countries, Turkey and the UK from March 18 till March 31. “Travel of passengers from member countries of the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, Turkey and the UK to India is prohibited with effect from March 18. No airline shall board a passenger from these nations with effect from 1200 GMT on March 18. The airline shall enforce it at the initial port of departure,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a circular. It also said the government has expanded compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days for passengers coming or transiting through Qatar, UAE, Oman and Kuwait and this will also come into effect from 1200 GMT of March 18 at the port of first departure. “Both these restrictions are temporary measures and shall be in force till March 31 and will be reviewed subsequently. “All scheduled Indian and foreign airlines engaged in international transportation to and from India, therefore, are directed to scrupulously follow above advisory and not to carry any passenger in violation thereof,” the DGCA said in the circular.

The UAE government, has announced the suspension of visa services for foreign nationals as a precautionary measure.  As per the instructions received from Federal Authority of Identity and Citizenship, the UAE visa services for all foreign nationals are temporarily suspended. Our visa services will remain suspended till further instructions. Passengers having valid visas issued prior to 17 March 2020 are allowed to travel as per the information received.

Beautiful Soul Travel Company merges its travel businesses with Bangalore based global accommodation provider TravelSync. The merger is part of TravelSync efforts to diversify and increase their market share in western and central India. This alliance will allow us to provide hotel accomodation services to an even wider set of travellers & new customer base in western and central India” says Vishwas Subbaiah MD TravelSync. TravelSync was incorporated in 2010 with the sole intent of providing Business travellers the best available accomodation options within their travel budget. Beautiful Soul founded by Hotelier Rajan Kalra in 2018, have innovated and grown to providing bespoke travel solutions to travellers. Vishwas and I saw a great opportunity to join forces and I am excited that this merger enables all of us to continue a great journey together as the leading travel service provider in India” said Kalra    

U.S. Mission India has announced that in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, they are cancelling all immigrant and non-immigrant visa appointments from March 16, 2020, onward. Once Mission India resumes regular consular operations, appointments will be made available and all will be able to reschedule. Please see www.ustraveldocs.com/in and in.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ for further information or refer to the below links. https://in.usembassy.gov/alert-cancelling-of-immigrant-and-nonimmigrant-visa-appointments/ https://in.usembassy.gov/public-access-to-american-spaces-india-closed-until-further-notice/ U.S. Mission India posts, in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, are cancelling immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments from March 16, 2020, onward. More here: https://t.co/xDACtcz8lp — U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) March 14, 2020

Kumud Singh, GM, Jaypee Greens Golf and Spa Resorts, Greater Noida, says, “Heath and well being is our foremost priority, our team members and all who are visiting our property is our main concern, we are vigorously monitoring novel coronavirus and responding based on the best advice of medical professionals and public health authorities. Safety measures have been followed by the team . Cleaning and disinfection have been thoroughly monitored in all the surfaces which are visibly contaminated with body fluids all potentially contaminated high-contact areas such as bathrooms, door handles, floor, chairs, telephones, grab-rails in corridors and stairwells has been disinfected using disposable cloths,  paper roll and disposable mop heads. All operators have been additional cleaned by using sanitizing sprays and wipes to use on vehicle surfaces during their routes, while hand sanitizer dispensers have to been kept refilled.”  

As a result of the coronavirus and the measures implemented by national authorities, the demand for air travel is virtually non-existent. SAS has therefore decided to put most of its operations on hold, starting on Monday 16 March and until the necessary conditions for commercial aviation return. To help our customers, SAS will, as far as possible, maintain a certain level of operation over the next few days to enable travelers to return from different destinations . We will be at the disposal of the authorities, at their request, to bring stranded citizens home or maintain community-critical infrastructure for as long as possible. This also means that SAS is unfortunately forced to temporarily reduce its workforce by up to 10,000 employees, corresponding to 90% of the workforce . The temporary reductions will affect all parts of SAS and will be implemented in accordance with national legislation in each country . SAS implements these measures in order to return to normal operation as soon as the situation permits.

Lufthansa Group Airlines Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Air Dolomiti are expanding their existing, comprehensive rebooking options in the interests of their customers due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the spread of the coronavirus. Customers who have tickets for cancelled and also existing Lufthansa Group Airline flights can keep this ticket without having to commit to a new flight date directly. Existing bookings will be cancelled for the time being, but the ticket and ticket value will remain unchanged and can be rebooked to a new departure date up to and including 31 December 2020. This rule applies to tickets booked up to and including 12 March 2020 and having a confirmed travel date up to and including 30 April 2020. Customers are requested to inform us of their desired rebooking by 1 June 2020. No rebooking fees will be charged. If the original fare is no longer available, the corresponding difference must be paid when the rebooking is made. In addition, customers can also rebook to another destination. With this extended goodwill arrangement, Lufthansa Group Airlines are responding to the wish of many customers to be able to have more flexibility regarding their travel plans given the current exceptional circumstances. Last week, the Lufthansa Group already introduced flexible rebooking options for its customers with regard to existing and future bookings. More information is available at lh.com. In addition, customers can contact the service hotline at any time on +49 (0) 69 86 799 799 to change their reservations.

Aeroflot has adjusted its flight schedules to destinations in Europe. From 16 March, Aeroflot will continue to operate flights from Moscow to the following destinations in Europe: Amsterdam, Athens, Belgrade, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Dublin, Geneva, Helsinki, Larnaca, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Madrid, Paris, Riga, Rome, Sofia, Stockholm, Tivat and Zagreb. Aeroflot has temporarily suspended flights between Moscow and the following cities: Barcelona (21 March to 30 April) Bukhara (16 March to 30 April) Chishinau (19 March to 31 March) Copenhagen (17 March and subsequently from 21 March to 30 April) Frankfurt (19 March to 30 April) Munich (19 March to 30 April) Oslo (18 March to 30 April) Prague (20 March to 30 April) Samarkand (16 March to 30 April) Tallinn (19 March to 30 April) Tashkent (16 March to 30 April) Thessaloniki (16 March to 30 April) Vienna (20 March to 30 April) Vilnius (19 March to 30 March) Warsaw (15 March to 27 March) Zurich (19 March to 30 April) Aeroflot will continue operating the following flights to allow Russian citizens to return to Russia: Prague – SU2012/SU2013 and SU2016/2017 (16 to 19 March) Frankfurt – SU2300/2301 (16, 17, 18 March), SU2304/2305 (16, 17 March) and SU2656/2657 (18 March) Munich – SU2322/2323 (16, 17, 18 March) Barcelona – SU2638/2639 (16, 17, 18, 19, 20 March), SU2512/2513 (16, 17, 19, 20 March) and SU2514/2515 (18 March) Zurich – SU2486/2487 (16-18 March) Copenhagen – SU2658/2659 (16, 18, 19, 20 March) Oslo – SU2174/2175 (16-17 March) Chishinau – SU1844/1845 (16-18 March) Vilnius – SU2108/2109 (16-17 March) Warsaw – SU2002/2003 (16-18 March) Tallinn – SU2106/2107 (17-19 March) Vienna – SU2184/2185 (17, 18, 19 March), SU2352/2353 (17, 19 March) and SU2354/2355 (18, 19 March) Scheduled Rossiya Airlines flights operated under Aeroflot’s SU code from St Petersburg to EU destinations including Larnaca, Prague and Vienna, as well as to …

Tourism New Zealand welcomes Indians with its new campaign creative and announces the expansion of tourism industry partnership for quicker visitor visa application processing. Inspired by the fact that New Zealand is one of the first places to see the sunlight of a new day, Tourism New Zealand, as part of its 100% Pure Welcome – 100% Pure New Zealand, has released a content series with ‘Good Morning World’ messages shared by locals welcoming visitors from their favourite spots across the country. The campaign showcases what makes New Zealand unique as a holiday destination – the warm and friendly people, stunning landscapes and variety of things to do. In order to support this, a trade webinar is being hosted today at 1430hrs to help increase the travel agents’ destination knowledge of New Zealand. Those who are interested in participating can get in touch with Jaspreet Kaur for further information either via email at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com  or call  9650196532.

Finnair is cancelling all flights to the US between 19 March and 12 April due to the US Government’s travel restrictions. Finnair is also cancelling its flights to Delhi between 15 March and 14 April due to recent visa restrictions. Finnair flies from Helsinki to New York and back until 18 March, in order to fly customers home. For flights departing 14 – 18 March, restrictions on Schengen passengers going to the US will be in effect as specified by the US authorities. Finnair also flies to Los Angeles on Sunday 15 March and to Miami today, 12 March. Finnair is continuously following the impacts of the coronavirus situation. Due to the decreased transfer passenger loads caused by these cancelations, further impacts on Finnair’s narrow-body traffic in Europe are to be expected. Finnair will communicate these changes once such decisions are made. Finnair will communicate flight cancellations directly to customers who have bookings on these flights. Customers can then either seek for a full ticket refund or postpone their travel by contacting Finnair’s customer services. Unfortunately, the customer service lines are very congested at the moment, so we suggest customers who don’t have bookings for immediate departures to contact Finnair’s customer services at a later stage. In addition, Finnair is offering customers with bookings on Finnair flights full flexibility to change their travel dates without a change fee until 30 November, 2020.