Tag Archives: CMD

At a recent press conference, addressing the issue of travel agent commission and the reason it was discontinued post lockdown, Rajiv Bansal, CMD, Air India, said, “We are trying to move to a more web-sale oriented approach, instead of an agent-based sales model. Initially, during the Vande Bharat Mission, all tickets were sold on the website, owing to imbalance in demand and supply. Now, demand and supply are largely matched, and all forms of sale are open, including agents, on-counter and web sale. Our objective is to increase the web sales.”

Claiming that the hospitality and tourism industry has taken a hard hit during the COVID-19 crisis, JK Mohanty, CMD, Swosti Group; Chairman, HRAO and Hony. Secretary, HAI, has said that state government needs to play a greater role in attracting investments from the private sector by providing attractive incentives for a period of at least 3 – 5 years to make Odisha an attractive destination competing with other neighbouring states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, etc. “Around five thousand additional number of hotel rooms in different star category should be set up to compete with the hotel infrastructure of the other states of India. We, therefore recommend that the Government should allow 30% capital investment subsidy up to a maximum limit of Rs.25 crores and 5% interest subsidy up to 11 years on repayment of term loans. If the subsidy is given only for 3 years, many hotels will come up as required,” he added.

Ashwani Lohani, Former CMD Air India and Chairman of the Railway Board, has joined as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for GMR Group’s Services Business (which includes railways). Lohani had recently joined as the Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Board. The latest move could be a good news for GMR, as it was looking at expanding its wings in the Railways sector by showing its interests in the private train project, station redevelopment plans and dedicated freight corridors (DFC).

Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet, has said that flying is currently the safest way to travel and there is no reason to feel that the air inside the cabin can be contaminated. “The air in an aircraft flows from top to bottom, and doesn’t really circulate in the cabin. Once it flows out of the cabin, it goes through HEPA filters which, according to manufacturers, clean 99.99 per cent of all contaminants in the air. Hence, we believe that flying is by far the safest way to travel. In buses, metros and trains, having this kind of pure air is not possible. We are providing a controlled environment with a set of tools and safeguards, making sure that it is the safest mode of travel,” he said while speaking at the GMR webinar recently.

Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, revealed that Air India Group operates 159 aircraft and commenced new/increased frequencies at 83 domestic and 51 international destinations, and established 35 UDAN routes in the last 5 years. The revenues have grown from Rs.16,000 crore during 2012-13 to Rs.23,900 crore in 2017-18 while the passenger load factor has increased from 72% to 79.6%. Air India has record number of women pilots i.e. 11% of total strength of pilots compared to average 2-3% even in advanced countries.

Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport in Indore gets its first international flight to Dubai on Air India on July 15. Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, has informed that the nonstop flight will be operating a 162-seater A320 Neo aircraft, which will fly directly to Dubai on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, and would return from Dubai on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. There will be 150 economy and 12 business class seats in the aircraft. The starting fares are Rs 18,700 (return fare) on economy and the return fare for the business class will be Rs 42,000. Lohani said, “Air India will launch the first international flight from Indore to Dubai. The non-stop flight will fulfill a long-standing desire from the travel fraternity and tourists for direct connectivity to the Gulf.”

Marriott International has announced the opening of Fairfield by Marriott, Visakhapatnam. The 121-room Fairfield by Marriott Visakhapatnam offers a Business Centre and meeting rooms equipped with audio-visual facilities. All public areas and guest rooms have high-speed Wi-Fi. It is located in the heart of Visakhapatnam city and about 2km from the Visakhapatnam International Airport. It is the latest addition to the brand’s footprint in South Asia with four hotels in India currently open, including Fairfield by Marriott Bengaluru Rajajinagar, Fairfield by Marriott Bengaluru Outer Ring Road, Fairfield by Marriott Lucknow and Fairfield by Marriott Belagavi. Neeraj Govil Area Vice President, South Asia, Marriott International Inc, says, “Recognised as one of the ‘smart cities’ in India, Visakhapatnam holds tremendous potential for high economic growth, infrastructure development and further evolution of the services sector, we are excited to open our 5th Fairfield by Marriott in India. With our hospitality expertise, in conjunction with our owners K. Subba Raju, CMD, KSR Developers, we are confident in delivering a seamless hotel experience at great value.” “Adorning a contemporary style and pastel hues, Fairfield by Marriott Visakhapatnam is the newest addition to the port city of Andhra Pradesh. The property and staff aim to provide a comfortable and convenient stay to both business and leisure travellers,” said Sudhanshu Singh, General Manager, Fairfield by Marriott Visakhapatnam. “There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm as we launch the Fairfield by Marriott brand in Visakhapatnam. As a Marriott International brand we strive to set the standards of delivering a great hotel experience through consistent and reliable service.”

Cleartrip and SpiceJet have announced a partnership with Google Flights. This enables consumers to view flight schedules and fares right within the Google Flight search page. Speaking on the partnership, Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet, said, “Google Flights is an innovative offering that makes travel planning fun and intuitive. At SpiceJet, our endeavour has always been to provide the highest value to our customers, and this partnership enables us to provide more options to India’s rapidly growing air travellers.” Balu Ramachandran, Head of Air and Distribution, Cleartrip, said, “Customers love Cleartrip for its products, and we have been working hard for the last few years to dramatically alter the reach, as we are confident that the product will take care of conversion and retention. We are excited about this partnership to bring Cleartrip in front of contextual travel customers, furthering our objectives of reach and efficiency.” Once users are on Google Flights, they can easily conduct search for different flight routings, using an interactive map to explore possible destinations and view live ticket prices. After selecting the flights they want, users can click the “Book” button to proceed to the Cleartrip or SpiceJet websites to purchase their tickets without having to fill in their flight choices again. Vikas Agnihotri, Industry Director, Google India, said, “India’s online travel sector is incredibly vibrant and has seen extensive growth and innovation. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the Indian travel market is projected to grow to $48 billion by 2020 with the biggest contributor, air travel expected to grow at 15% to $30 billion. For Google, a new entrant in the highly competitive online travel sector in India, this partnership with Cleartrip …

Air India is all set to start new flights not only under government’s Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, but non-UDAN flights as well to strengthen its domestic network. Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, informs, “We will be starting flights under UDAN to Pathankot and Ludhiana. There will be non UDAN flights as well, and we will be starting new flights from Lucknow from June 25 on Lucknow-Jaipur, Lucknow-Dehradun and Lucknow-Bhopal routes. In South India, we will be putting an airplane in Bengaluru this month, which would be flying to Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai.”

After recent incidents of unruly behaviour with its employees on board, Air India might put in place new rules, which might have steep fines up to Rs. 15 lakhs. The airline, reportedly is planning to impose a fine of Rs 5 lakh for delaying a flight up to an hour; Rs 10 lakh for delay of 1-2 hours and as much as Rs 15 lakh for delay over two hours. According to official, a plan to curb such behaviour has been drafted and awaiting approval from Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India.