Tag Archives: CEO

Forging ahead with the fourth destination in India after Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kochi recently, Jazeera Airways will now fly to Mumbai starting May 9 to expand its growing network of Indian routes. Responding to the travel demands of its customers, the airline will provide strong connectivity through Kuwait on to 14 destinations across the Middle East. Jazeera Airways will operate daily flights to and from Mumbai starting May 9 departing 20:30 pm from Kuwait arriving 03.00am in Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways said, “Our network in India is developing well and is continuing to support the travel needs of over 920,000 Indians from Kuwait, as well as offering Indian citizens connectivity across the Middle East. With our increasing passenger numbers, Jazeera Airways is proud to open its own dedicated terminal at Kuwait International Airport in May. This is an exciting phase for the brand as it reiterates the long term commitment of honouring Jazeera’s support for the Vision 2035.”    

Switzerland Tourism and the Swiss Travel System have together launched a special ‘Ranveer on Tour’ train dedicated to Ranveer Singh to honour the actor’s contribution towards the increasing popularity of the country as the preferred destination of Indian tourists. The train’s maiden journey was inaugurated by the official brand ambassador of Switzerland Tourism. Also present at the inauguration were Martin Nydegger, CEO Switzerland Tourism and Maurus Lauber CEO Swiss Travel System. Post the inauguration, Singh took a commemorative ride on the train while interacting with the passengers and signed a few postcards. Nydegger said at the inauguration, “The Indian market is fundamentally important for Switzerland Tourism. In 2017, activities to promote Switzerland in India have resulted in a strong increase of 23.4 per cent in overnights. Our campaign with Ranveer Singh as our Brand Ambassador has powerfully contributed to this recent success: Switzerland has become increasingly famous as an adventurous and fun destination for younger Indian visitors.” Lauber added, “ Indians are extremely important for the Swiss Travel system and the number of Indian travellers using the Swiss Travel Pass has doubled since 2013. We are very proud that the Golden Pass Panoramic train is named after Ranveer Singh and we hope this inspires more Indians to travel on this premium route on the Grand train tour of Switzerland.”

AccorHotels has signed an agreement with Mövenpick Holding and Kingdom Holding to acquire Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, for an amount of CHF560 million (€482 million). Sebastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, AccorHotels said, “With the acquisition of Mövenpick, we are consolidating our leadership in the European market and are further accelerating our growth in emerging markets, in particular in Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The Mövenpick brand is the perfect combination of modernity and authenticity and ideally complements our portfolio.” “Its European-Swiss heritage is a perfect fit with AccorHotels. By joining the Group, it will benefit from AccorHotels’ power, particularly in terms of distribution, loyalty-building and development. This transaction illustrates the strategy we intend to pursue with the opening up of AccorInvest’s capital: to seize tactical opportunities to strengthen our positions and consolidate our leaderships, as well as leverage our growth,”Bazin added. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will benefit from AccorHotels’ loyalty programme, distribution channels and operating systems, which will help optimise their performance. This acquisition further consolidates the current footprint in Europe and in the Middle East and accelerates growth notably in key regions where the Group has been established for many years, such as Africa and Asia. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. It should be completed during the second half of 2018.

JetSetGo has announced the acquisition of Indo Pacific Aviation, India’s oldest non-scheduled aircraft operator (NSOP) with operations in India. Speaking about the acquisition, Kanika Tekriwal, CEO, JetSetGo, said, “As the oldest NSOP, Indo Pacific has been instrumental in many ways in the growth of the private jet and helicopter market in India. Indo Pacific has far too many firsts to its credit and we are excited that this acquisition brings together the values of the old with the dynamism of the young. This acquisition now gives a significant boost to our ability to grow our fleet and offer unique services and next generation aircraft for personalised on-demand mobility.” Aggregating India’s available private jets and helicopters for the first time, JetSetGo now has pan-India presence with 2,800 aircraft movements executed in the last financial year. Typically managing and executing chartered flights through DGCA approved non-scheduled operator permits that are owned by others, the acquisition of Indo Pacific Aviation now gives more flexibility to JetSetGo to directly manage its own fleet and to provide on-demand air connectivity. It will also offer its customer’s aircraft sales and acquisition, fleet management and other aviation support services. Government approval from the DGCA and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) was obtained prior to completing the transaction.  

The 17th Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecture organised by Tiger Trust in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature – India, raised awareness about the world of snow leopards. Organised in memory of the Tiger Man of India, the esteemed gathering was addressed by Dr Koustubh Sharma, Senior Regional Ecologist, Snow Leopard Trust; Dr Tsewang Namgail, Director, Snow Leopard Conservancy India trust and Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF. Anjana Gosain, Chief Functionary Officer, Tiger Trust, helped put together yet another insightful lecture while trustee Amit Sankhala added some food for thought. Tiger Trust was founded by Padmashri Late Shri Kailash Sankhala, in 1989 to protect endangered tigers in their natural habitat. The Trust functions in a three-way approach, namely capacity building programmes, awareness campaigns and working with the ground staff.      

Speedwings has recently signed an exclusive MoU with Verteil Technologies to access NDC-listed airline products through its direct connect platform ‘VDC’ (Verteil Direct Connect) and provide NDC-based training programme to travel agents and other aspirants in the industry. NDC (New Distribution Capability) is a travel industry-supported programme launched by IATA for the development and market adoption of a new, XML-based data transmission standard. The NDC Standard enhances the capability of communications between airlines and travel agents. According to Biji Eapen, Chairman and CEO, Speedwings, “This is a newly developed cutting-edge concept in our teaching-learning process to help the travel industry to become more professional and helps freshers to be employable. Speedwings and Vertiel will jointly issue certificates to the successful candidates.” NDC Training programme is innovative and unique in the history of IATA and travel industry. This NDC-aligned innovative tool allows to display and connect airline inventories directly to its host reservation system providing access to availability, pricing, shopping and ticketing plus facilitating ancillary sales of excess baggage, visas, chauffeur service, etc. NDC ticketing in India started issuing tickets on BA, EK and LH during the first quarter of 2018 only. It is currently facilitated through I-Top (Indian Travel-Agents Own Portal developed by IATA Agents Association of India), integrated through Verteil Direct Connect.

AccorHotels has announced its acquisition of ResDiary, a platform for table reservation at restaurants. ResDiary provides venues with a high-end table management solution, using technology that optimises their food and beverage revenues and helps control operational costs. Its yield and channel management tools help restaurateurs maximise revenues, while limiting booking fees by controlling availability displayed on third-party channels. Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, AccorHotels, said, “I am delighted to see ResDiary join the range of services of the Group. Our ambition is to support ResDiary in its global expansion, consolidating its scale, and benefitting from its expertise to provide multiple attractive offers to our guests. This acquisition completes recent investments of AccorHotels in the Food & Beverage industry. It fully supports the Group’s ambition to increase touchpoints with a fast-growing customer base.” Mike Conyers, Co-founder and CEO, ResDiary said, “We have had a very successful relationship with AccorHotels in Asia Pacific, and the ResDiary team is thrilled to join the Group. We are looking forward to expanding our service on a more global level with AccorHotels.”

Indian e-tail major Flipkart announced its tie-up with MakeMyTrip for travel bookings. “Through the partnership, users can now make travel bookings through MakeMyTrip’s services using Flipkart’s mobile application,” an official from MakeMyTrip said. The partnership will be rolled out with domestic flight bookings in the next few weeks, followed by hotels, bus and holiday bookings. The companies, however, did not specify the exact time frame for the rollout. “The partnership will help us reach out to an even wider consumer base through MakeMyTrip’s multiple travel booking sites — MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and redBus — and open up the online travel market significantly,” said Deep Kalra, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, MakeMyTrip. The tie-up also helps in furthering Flipkart’s goal of being a “one-stop destination” for all digital transactions, added Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the partnership. Founded in 2007, Bengaluru-based e-commerce platform Flipkart claims to have a customer base of over 100 million in the country.

Cygnett Hotels & Resorts has recently launched Cygnett Lite Ramachandra at Visakhapatnam, adding 42 keys to its repertoire. The hotel is strategically located at a distance of just 30 minutes’ drive from Visakhapatnam International Airport. The hotel emphasises on approachable design, has spacious and modern rooms and offers an all-day dining service. With its latest addition, the chain will now have a total of 15 operating hotels under its wings. Moreover, nine new properties are scheduled to open by December 2018, including Vishakhapatnam. Another seven to eight hotels will be lined up for opening by this financial year. “Our vision is to reinvent the definition of leisure and business travel, transforming the hotel into a preferred choice for guests. We are committed to creating memorable guest experiences by combining the Cygnetture brand experience and the city’s local attractions. Cygnett hotels are further expanding its brand portfolio, across the growing Tier-I and II cities in India and we foresee a great potential in becoming the favourite hospitality brand for travellers in the city,” said Sarbendra Sarkar, Founder & Managing Director, Cygnett Hotels & Resorts. “Reflecting the brand’s promise to provide what matters most to today’s independent travellers, the hotel offers the brand’s defining touches, including the Cygnett Comfort Bed, complimentary bottled water, free Wi-Fi and Cygnetture breakfast,” said Alok Verma, CEO, Cygnett Hotels & Resorts.

Singapore carrier Scoot will increase capacity of its Singapore to Gold Coast service to up to five times per week, generating a boost to the economy of up to $42.2 million. Kate Jones, Minister, Tourism Industry Development, welcomed the increase in service from April 2018. “It’s great to continue to build on this successful service through the Attracting Aviation Investment Fund in time for the pinnacle event of the year – the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games – as well as other upcoming events including the Gold Coast Marathon. We look forward to continuing to promote Queensland as a premier holiday destination in Singapore, while also opening up access from other key markets connecting through this important international hub including the UK, India and China,” she said. Marion Charlton, CEO, Gold Coast Airport, said the announcement was a welcome addition in time for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. She said, “The increase in services is really well timed in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games – providing more opportunity for tourists to travel to the Gold Coast for the major event. We look forward to working with Scoot to ensure continued growth of these services into the future.” Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter congratulated Scoot on adding the extra service, which would directly benefit the visitor economy of the Gold Coast.