Tag Archives: CMD

Air India has launched a new flight from Delhi to Kochi to Dubai, which would be starting from February 1, 2017, revealed Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India. Talking at an informal meeting, he said, “The Delhi-Kochi sector is an important an busy sector and hence the new flight has been started. This would further offer connection to Dubai, allowing people from Kochi to go to Dubai, which too is a popular route.” Other than that he revealed that in the international sector Air India will be starting a total of 6 routes and around 22 flights in the regional sector, which would eventually come under the government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme.

Lords Hotels & Resorts has recently signed its 26th property in Bharuch, Gujarat. To be branded under the Lords Eco Inn banner, it is scheduled to commence operations from December 2016. This makes Lords Hotels & Resorts the largest hotel chain in the state. Located between the two major cities of Surat and Vadodara, Lords Eco Inn – Bharuch serves as an ideal stopover destination. With a 48 rooms, the eco inn offers luxurious accommodations and full-service at friendly prices for the discerning business and leisure traveller. P.R. Bansal, CMD, Lords Hotels & Resorts, says, “The addition of this hotel to our chain of hotels marks a significant milestone and one that is unique, for us. From the first hotel back in 2007 which was set in this very state to this one in 2016, we have gone on to become the largest chain of true value hotels in Gujarat. Today our hotels dot the entire region. We now have all its four brands including Lords Plaza, Lords Inn, Lords Resort and Lords Eco Inn that caters to the leisure, corporate and also the pilgrimage tourists which Gujarat Tourism is known for in the state. Of the 15 Lords Hotels & Resorts properties in the state, this will be the sixth ‘Eco Inn’ brand for the group.” “We have been looking to aggressively establish our presence across the country while maintaining Gujarat as the home. In the last few months we have added three new properties in Jammu, Agra and Thrissur. We are looking to expand our portfolio not just in India but also outside, especially in the neighbouring countries where the hospitality sector still has a huge margin for …

Air India’s direct New Delhi to Madrid flight will launch from either December end or first week of January, reveals Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India. The national carrier’s direct New Delhi to San Francisco flight was introduced last December, following which two other international destinations – Delhi-Austria and Ahmedabad-London-New York – were connected by the airline. These flights are being operated using Air India’s two-class Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Lohani revealed this on the sidelines of the 32nd IATO Convention in Chennai.

The Minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju held a meeting on July 11 to review the functioning of Air India, where he advised the national carrier to use the best IT practices to bring efficiency in the airline. During a presentation made by Air India, the Ashwini Lohani, CMD, Air India, explained the initiatives taken recently and the various challenges that the airline was facing in the domestic and international market. Aspects about the performance of Air India in comparison with other domestic airlines and the industry as a whole were analysed. Strategies for improvement of various parameters were also looked at. The Minister reviewed the status of monetisation by Air India so far and the hurdles if any. He keenly sought information on operationalisation of MRO for advanced aircrafts at Nagpur and Hyderabad. The Minister reviewed Air India’s strategy to increase its market share of the domestic and international market as well as improve its financial performance by reducing losses in any segment of the company. The Minister promised Air India that the Ministry on its part would look into their demands and will provide all possible support.

Air India has agreed to accept travel agents’ corporate credit card for booking, revealed Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). Speaking in New Delhi, at the UFTAA presentation for TAAI Northern Region members, he revealed that the team of TAAI had a meeting with Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India; Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial, Air India, and other representative of the national carrier. “I am very impressed with the response from Ashwani Lohani, Pankaj Srivastava, and the entire team of Air India on allowing travel agents to use their corporate credit cards to do ticketing. We have been consistently talking to them on the airline having no objection if a customer uses his credit card, or the agent uses the customer’s credit card. However, the agent could not use his corporate credit card to make the booking. However, they listened to us, and we are highly obliged that may be within a week, the agent corporate credit card will be used by Air India as a form of payment.”