Tag Archives: CCO

In a written statement, Air Asia India has clarified with TAAI that they are not going out of business. The statement by Ankur Garg, CCO, Air Asia India, pointed out, “While the current pandemic has severely impacted the aviation sector and AirAsia India is no exception, we have remained adequately capitalized throughout these months by securing the funding from our majority shareholder as and when required.” He further said that they continue to grow their network and are already at ~55% of their pre-COVID capacity and looking to increase to 70% as per the recent relaxed capacity mandate from the government last week. They have also recently added a brand new A320 NEO to their fleet in Oct, adding a 2nd NEO in Nov and will add another 3 aircraft in as many months. Giving another evidence of the financial stability of AirAsia India, Garg reveals that they have been smoothly processing all refunds in the last few months and never forced a conversion of bookings during lockdown to “credit shells”. In the months of Sep-Oct, Air Asia leadership proactively engaged in regional meetings with travel agent partners across the entire country and addressed any questions on refunds, long term growth plans, etc. On the employee front, we have not retrenched any staff and have not done salary cuts for employees earning less than Rs 50,000 per month, and also no delay in salary pay-outs has happened for any month since the pandemic, he informed. Citing these points, Garg said that he hopes that it would dispel any doubts and provide enough confidence in the financial sustainability and growth plans of AirAsia India.

Sharing the results of their latest survey, Vinod Kannan, CCO, Vistara, revealed that 2 out of 3 (almost 67%) of customers have said that flying is the safest way to travel from one city to another. Only 13% have disagree. The survey titled, ‘Flyer behaviour and trends in the times of COVID-19’ also revealed that customers’ confidence to fly is increasing, with lesser fear of exposure during the journey or fellow Pax not following protocols.

After being away from the Indian market for nine years, Alitalia resumed its operations in the country with a direct daily service between Delhi-Rome. Fabio Lazzerini, CCO, Alitalia, addressed the gathering and said that in 2015, around 4,60,000 people travelled between India and Italy, and the new flight would play a huge role in the growth of tourism between the two countries. “Re-investing in the country, we started the flight to meet the increasing demand. We have a state-of-the-art 250-seater A330 aircraft on the Delhi-Rome route, which has on board wi-fi in all the classes. The Business Class in Alitalia is called the Magnifica with ultra-luxurious service onboard as well as on ground. There is also a Premier Economy, which offers great comfort as well as extra legroom. The Economy Class also gives the comfort of Alitalia with amazing entertainment and meal options. We are starting new flights in our winter schedule this year from both India and Maldives.”

The third edition of India International Travel & Tourism (IITT) opened today with over 400 Exhibitors, 300 Hosted Buyers, and 200 Corporate Buyers and Wedding Planners from across the country. This was revealed by Mohit Mewani, Exhibitons Director, IITT. The exhibition was inaugurated in the presence of Jyoti Kapur, President, ADTOI; Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI; H.E. Erdal Sabri Ergen, Consul General of the Republic of Turkey; Philip Saunders, CCO, Kuwait Airways; Subhash Goyal, President, IATO; and Jay Bhatia, Hon. National Treasurer & Chairman – Tourism Council, TAAI. The three-day B2B travel and tourism trade exhibition and conference, is being held at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai from January 15-17. One of the highlights of the show is a business session by TAAI on how to promote tourism in times of terror. The show also saw Star Cruises promote its new brand Dream Cruises in a big way.