Tag Archives: Chief Executive Officer

Vistara has announced non-stop flights between Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, UAE, starting 1 October 2022. The airline will operate daily flights between the two cities using its A320neo aircraft. Bookings for the flights are being progressively opened on all channels, including Vistara’s website, mobile app, and through travel agents. Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, “We are delighted to expand our presence in the UAE, with a second Emirate, and offer the choice of flying India’s best airline on one of the busiest international routes from India. We are confident that greater connectivity between Mumbai and Abu Dhabi will complement the growing trade and tourism between the two countries. We are certain that customers from India and the UAE will appreciate experiencing our award-winning product and services on the route.”

Travelport has announced a strategic long-term collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to use advanced cloud technology to accelerate the digital transformation of retailing in the travel industry. This deal, which brings together globally renowned expertise in travel technology, cloud technology, and hyper-personalised retailing, will focus on optimising Travelport’s recently launched next-generation platform, Travelport+. It will also drive innovation in travel merchandising with the launch of a new accelerator program that will incorporate talent from tech start-up community. “The travel industry has struggled to keep up with the pace of change in digital retail. This landmark collaboration is specifically designed to address just that. AWS’s retail heritage makes them uniquely qualified to optimize digital retail platforms, simplify complex environments, and enable game-changing innovation in the travel retailing space. With AWS as our preferred cloud partner, we are going to create a simpler, smarter, and better future for travel retailing,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport.

Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, has said that Maharashtra’s Aurangabad needs both an international airport as well as a state-of-the-art convention centre to boost tourism in the region. Kant announced this at his recent two-day visit to Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), and added that while other newer cities took time to establish, Aurangabad already has ready infrastructure.

IndiGo has said that they will make complete payment against all pending credit shells latest by 31st January, 2021. The airline has been refunding amounts owed to customers whose flights had been cancelled during the lockdown and has processed close to INR 1000cr of refunds already, which is approximately 90% of the total amount owed to the customers. Ronojoy Dutta, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo said, “The sudden onset of Covid19 and the resulting lockdown, brought our operations to a complete halt by the end of March of this year. As our incoming cash flow dried up, we were unable to immediately process refunds for cancelled flights and had to create credit shells for the refunds that were due to our customers. However, with the resumption of operations and a steady increase in demand for air travel, our priority has been to refund the credit shell amounts in an expedited manner. We are pleased to commit that we will disburse the full 100% credit shell payments latest by January 31, 2021. We would like to thank all our customers who stood by us for their patience and understanding during this unprecedented crisis.”

Accor has added India and Turkey to its Middle East & Africa region. Under the newly expanded region would come a portfolio of over 84,000 rooms across 400 hotels. This regional expansion brings an increased pipeline of over 112 properties, scheduled to open in the coming 24 months, bringing the overall number of keys close to 110,000 rooms. “The addition of Turkey and India to our already diverse region means that we will be able to consolidate the existing relationship and work that has been accomplished over the years and centralize it into a collective effort. It is in a strategic but natural move that we are integrating India and Turkey to our portfolio with long term plans in sight for the future of the region,” says Mark Willis, Chief Executive Officer, Turkey, India, Middle East & Africa for Accor.

Cornelis Vrieswijk, Chief Executive Officer, GoAir has resigned from the post within nine months, citing personal matters. The airline said Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, will be discharging the additional responsibilities of the CEO, till it finds a successor to Vrieswijk. The Dutch national joined GoAir only last June after the departure of Wolfgang Prock-Schauer in December 2017. “At the nominations and remunerations committee meeting held by the board recently, Vrieswijk expressed his desire to relocate to Amsterdam since his family was not wishing to settle down in Mumbai,” the company said in a statement. Vrieswijk has over 25 years experience in the aviation and travel industries with stints at Thomas Cook Group and Transavia Airlines. Source: PTI

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) is introducing the iconic Taj brand in Himachal Pradesh with the opening of Taj Theog Resort & Spa, Shimla. Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IHCL, said, “We are delighted to open our first hotel in Himachal Pradesh. This will be the company’s first mountain resort. With this new addition, we have expanded our resort portfolio which is the largest in India. The state has great tourism potential and we look forward to expanding our footprint to showcase the pristine beauty of this region.” Nestled amidst thick Cedar forests and spread over five acres, every nook and corner of the hotel offers mesmerising views of the mighty Himalayas. Taj Theog Resort & Spa’s design and architecture echoes colonial charm reminiscent of hill station appeal. Each of the 99 rooms, with warm wooden furniture, traditional rugs and tall French windows offer spacious balconies overlooking snow peaks and quaint villages. “Taj Theog Resort & Spa is a sanctuary amidst conifers, cedars and tiny hamlets with the stunning skyline of the Himalayan range as a backdrop. It serves as an ideal location for guests seeking a mix of adventure and relaxation coupled with Taj’s legendary service.” said Naveen Barthwal, General Manager, Taj Theog Resort & Spa, Shimla. Guests have a choice of distinctive culinary options which include an all-day diner – Tragopan that offers the robust Pahari cuisine along with global cuisines and comfort food; Peony, the oriental restaurant offers Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines.

flydubai has recently started thrice-weekly direct operations between Kozhikode and Dubai. With this launch, flydubai now offers 30 weekly flights to and from Dubai to eight destinations in India. On the launch of operations, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, flydubai, said, “As the first Dubai-based carrier to operate direct flights from Dubai to Kozhikode, we expect this route to be very popular for travellers from the UAE to the region.  Similarly, passengers from Kozhikode now have easier access to popular destinations on the flydubai network as well as the Emirates network providing easy access to more destinations when visiting family and friends.” Speaking at a press conference held recently to mark the start of flights to Kozhikode, Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President—Commercial Operations (UAE, GCC, Subcontinent and Africa), flydubai, said, “With the commencement of our service to Kozhikode, passengers will be able to connect to hundreds of destinations.  flydubai’s professional and friendly service on board will offer an exceptional travel experience whether travelling for business or leisure.” Business Class services will be available on this route and offers faster check-in, priority ground services and onboard comfortable spacious seats. Passengers choosing Economy Class will be able to enjoy the airline’s innovatively-designed seats to optimise legroom and maximise comfort. With the commencement of this new route, the airline further grew its Indian network, which currently includes Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Lucknow and Mumbai.

Ten out of eleven markets registered stability or increase in average daily rate (ADR)s in the first half of 2018, according to recent report by leading investment firm, JLL. Mumbai is the leader in absolute RevPAR and Delhi is the leader in RevPAR percentage change in H1 2018 over the same period last year. Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer- South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group said, “The overall business sentiment in the hotel industry has been high in 2018 and it may well be marked as the beginning of a sustainable upswing. Buoyed by occupancies touching 70 per cent in many markets and average rates registering improvement, the industry seems to be headed in the right direction. Having braved some early headwinds last year, the industry seems to have regained strength on the back of growing demand, slowing down of supply and various initiatives taken by the government.”

Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) is set to bring the game of cricket to the heart of Brisbane Airport’s (BNE) International Terminal on November 22, with former international superstars Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz making guest appearances to stage a world first cricket match inside an airport terminal. The match will be streamed live on Brett Lee’s own Facebook page to a global audience. The former Australian cricket players will captain two teams consisting of senior representatives from the India and Australia travel industries, in a twenty-over indoor exhibition style cricket match as part of Tourism Events Queensland’s ‘Queensland on Stage India’ event for 2018. Gert-Jan de Graaff, Chief Executive Officer, BAC, said it is an exciting world-first event that not only highlights the great mateship and friendly rivalry between Australia and India but also provides a unique opportunity to strengthen and celebrate tourism between the two nations. “India and Australia share a love of family, travel and cricket, so we thought we’d take the opportunity to celebrate these shared values with a bit of fun, whilst also showcasing Brisbane as an aspirational travel destination offering a wide range of experiences for Indian visitors. India is one of the world’s fastest growing outbound travel markets with more than 300,000 Indians visiting Australia last year and more than 33,000 of those visiting Brisbane, which was a 36 per cent increase on the previous year,” he said. “Being able to showcase Brisbane Airport as the gateway to Queensland and Australia will allow existing and new airline partners to reinforce the importance of this growing market. With rising travel demand, and our business and trade relationship showing further growth, BAC is very interested in …