Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Year-on-year RPK growth slowed substantially in the domestic India market in March 2019, from 8.3 per cent in February, to 3.1 per cent currently, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). Over the past five years, annual growth has averaged a double-digit pace close to 20 per cent. In large part, the slowdown reflects the disruption of flight operation for Jet Airways, including a number of flight cancellations, as well as construction works at Mumbai airport which also interrupted operations. Rising airfares in recent months are also likely to have weighed upon passenger demand.

Mumbai-headquartered Guideline Travels, which also sells B2B and B2C tour packages, is looking to add to its list of channel sales partners. It currently has 11 such partners pan India. Pradeep Saboo, Partner, Guideline Travels LLP, says, ““Most people don’t know this but we are more than cruises. We have been selling Europe for more than 15 years and US for more than nine years. In fact, we bring out our own brochure with global itineraries like Europe, US, Australia, and New Zealand. For B2B, I only sell group tours and not FIT tailor-made packages. We currently have 11 channel partners, apart from our own four offices, in cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and even Raipur and are looking to add more in various cities. We train these agents in Mumbai and give them 25 of our brochures.” He adds that the packages are completely inclusive and they have a policy of no optional sightseeing on tour. All meals, tips, insurance are included as well. Moreover, all meals are vegetarian/Jain, except the breakfast which is at the hotel. But this has not stopped non-vegetarian clients because of its all-inclusive deal. While it also sells to agents outside of its 11 channel partners, the commissions differ, giving more advantage to the partners. There is no joining fee for agents who are free to conduct their regular business except group tours. Saboo adds, “We need active agents. They don’t need to be exclusive with us, except when it comes to package tours, which needs to be done only with us. We offer them continuous guidance and their clients can call us directly for clarifications. Moreover, we don’t require a minimum guarantee.”

In a survey of 7,500 people in 12 markets globally, an Amadeus-IHG study titled ‘Drivers of Change in Hospitality’ reports that 40 per cent of Indians have stayed in a personalised room that was customised to their needs (e.g. furnished with preferred furniture and room accessories). Traditional room types will no longer be the core product offered by hotels. Instead, guests will choose from room configurations that match their needs, the report states. This is known as attribute-based booking. In-room amenities, non-room inventory, and even tickets for out-of-hotel attractions can be flexibly included in bookings, and this very much represents the way that consumers want to be able to buy. Attributes that can be added into rooms include functional items, both low-tech and high-tech – a cot for infants or smart room technology. For example, some 64% of global travelers are interested in having access to a voice assistant (e.g. Alexa, Google Home) in their hotel room. Choosing which floor you stay on is also a customizable option.

The regional arm of national carrier Air India, Alliance Air has announced that it will launch flights to Pune and Bengaluru from Belgaum in Karnataka, six days a week from May 15. The new flight operation is being introduced under the central government’ regional connectivity scheme, UDAN. The airline will use 72-seater ATR aircraft on both the route. Flight 9I-513 will depart from Bangalore at 2.15 pm and arrive at Belgaum at 3.40 pm from where it will depart at 4.05 pm and arrive at Pune at 5.20 pm. From Pune, flight 9I 514 will depart at 5.45 pm and arrive in Belgaum at 7.05 pm. It will depart from Belgaum at 7.30 pm and arrive in Bangalore at 9.10 pm on all days except Tuesday, said the airline in a statement. Alliance Air has so far launched services on 29 regional routes under the Udan scheme, since its launch in April 2017.

Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines’ customer service is now also available via Facebook Messenger App. The chatbots can be used by all Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines customers. If the digital assistants do not know what to do, the chat can be forwarded directly to a service center employee. In the future, they should also provide specific answers on free baggage allowances, the whereabouts of baggage or push notifications in the event of delays, cancellations or gate changes. The bots are constantly being developed and will also be made available on other channels such as airline apps, airline websites or other messenger services such as Whatsapp. Self-services will play an increasingly important role in the future. In addition to automated solutions, Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines will continue to be personally accessible to their customers via their service staff.

Accor has introduced the concept of ‘Day Stays by Accor’ at its 51 hotels across India. Through this concept, guests can make bookings for 12 hours or less and pay with a discount of 60 per cent on the best available rate of the day and can shorten their stay, rest and save time. Whether you are in transit and have ample time to relax or attending a seminar in the city, or have something to celebrate an occasion, come and experience the impeccable hospitality with Day Stays by Accor. Le Club Accor Hotels members can also earn points through this programme.

SpiceJet has announced a slew of new international flights. The airline has already opened bookings for Mumbai-Bangkok flight which is effective 17 May, 2019. SpiceJet will soon connect Mumbai with Hong Kong, Jeddah, Dubai, Colombo, Dhaka, Riyadh, and Kathmandu. The airline has also announced 77 flights which includes 48 flights connecting Mumbai, 16 flights connecting Delhi and 8 flights between Mumbai and Delhi. The airline has also announced the launch of 12 new domestic flights connecting the key metros of Mumbai and Delhi. To counter the ongoing crisis resulting in a huge shortage of capacity in the Indian aviation market, the airline has been consistently working towards introducing new flights and frequencies to restore normalcy. The airline has in the past few weeks introduced a host of new flights from Mumbai to Madurai, Jammu (via Srinagar), Dehradun, Guwahati, Jaipur, Amritsar, Mangalore, Coimbatore besides additional frequencies to Chennai, Delhi, Patna, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has recently reported first-quarter 2019 financial results. The brand’s net income decreased 84.6% to $63 million in the first quarter of 2019 vis-à-vis 2018. Comparable system-wide RevPAR increased 1.8%, including an increase of 2.7% at comparable owned and leased hotels. Excluding the benefit from the timing of the Easter holiday, comparable RevPAR at system-wide hotels and comparable owned and leased hotels would have increased 1.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Comparable U.S. hotel RevPAR decreased 0.3%; full service hotel RevPAR increased 0.1% and select service hotel RevPAR decreased 1.3%. Net rooms growth was 13.7%, or 7.3% excluding the acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality LLC in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has declared that India’s domestic market rose just 3.1 per cent in March, down from February’s growth of 8.3 per cent.  These figures were part of the global passenger traffic results for March 2019, released by IATA, which shows that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs) rose 3.1 per cent, compared to the same month a year ago, which was the slowest pace for any month in nine years. The numbers are way against the scorching five-year average growth pace of close to 20 per cent per month.The slowdown comes in line with the reduction in flight operations of Jet Airways, which stopped flying in April, as well as disruptions at Mumbai airport owing to construction.

Budget-carrier of Singapore Airlines group, Scoot has commenced its daily non-stop flight from Singapore to Thiruvananthapuram as the airline also announced to cease its operations from Lucknow by June-end owing to weak demand on the route. The inaugural flight took off from Singapore on Tuesday with a 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft at around 8:40 pm local time and reached the Thiruvananthapuram airport at around 10 pm local time, said the airline in a statement. After Thiruvananthapuram, Scoot is planning to start flights to Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam later this year. Commenting on the launch, Vinod Kannan, Chief Commercial Officer, Scoot, “The transfer of SilkAirs services to Scoot is intended to further optimise the SIA Groups resources and present a better match of capacity to demand. Scoot is well- poised to provide competitive pricing and strengthen Scoots presence in the India market.” With Thiruvananthapuram, Scoot now flies to eight cities in the country – Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Lucknow, Tiruchirappalli. However, while the services to Lucknow will be discontinued after June 29, the services on the Singapore- Bengaluru route will be operated by the parent Singapore Airlines, effective May 16, the airline said.