Tag Archives: Delhi

In a network restructuring of its overseas offices, VisitBritain has decided to make Mumbai its head office in India. At present the main office is in New Delhi and while they will continue to maintain this office, they plan to increase their focus and trade relations from Mumbai. “We are looking at a refocus in India and moving our major office to Mumbai so that we are much more aligned to the travel trade and work more closely with the trade to build product knowledge,” says Patricia Yates, Strategy & Communications director, VisitBritain. In the first nine months of 2015, UK saw a 13 per cent growth in Indian visitors but the total spend was down by three per cent.

With effect from March 21, 2016, Jet Airways will launch a new daily flight between Delhi and Muscat, Oman, at fares starting Rs 15, 782. The addition of this new flight from the airline’s strategic hub in Delhi will further strengthen the airline’s growing international network and enhance flight connectivity from Northern India, SAARC and ASEAN and to the Gulf region. India and Oman are linked by historical maritime trade linkages and the important role of the Indian expatriate community in the development of Oman. With the launch of the new flight, Jet Airways will operate a total of four daily flights between India and Muscat. This includes flights from Mumbai, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Gaurang Shetty, Senior Vice-President, Commercial, Jet Airways, said, “It is indeed a proud moment for us at Jet Airways to launch our maiden international flight between Delhi and Muscat. This is a significant milestone for enhancing the strong ties between India and the Sultanate of Oman. With the launch of this flight, Jet Airways guests from Northern India, SAARC and ASEAN regions will have the option of travelling to Oman via Delhi.” The airline will deploy a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on these new services, offering Premiere and Economy guests an in-flight product that is among the best in its class, warm service, as well as delectable cuisine and convenient schedules.

IndiGo has added additional flights on its Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh routes to enable those stranded due to ongoing protests in Haryana to travel between the two cities. The airline operate two additional flights from Delhi to Chandigarh on February 23. On February 22, the airline operated two flights on Delhi-Chandigarh and two flights on Delhi-Jaipur routes respectively. These supplementary flights will allow stranded passengers to travel between these cities, as rail transport is not fully operational and roads have been blocked by protestors.

Come April 6, Air India will commence flights between Delhi and Vienna. This will be Air India’s eighth European destination. The flight will operate thrice a week on AI’s Boeing 787. It will leave from New Delhi at 1400 hours (IST) and land at Vienna at 18:45 hours(local time). On the way back, the flight will leave Vienna at 22.45 hours and arrive in Delhi the next day at 09.25 hours(IST). The national carrier is also in talks with Austrian Airlines for a code-share. Vienna drew a record number of 40,355 Indians in 2015, accounting for 89,628 overnight stays. While the number of Indians visiting Vienna increased by 49.5 per cent over last year, the number of overnight stays grew by 38.7 per cent, according to Vienna Tourist Board. As per the data, the growth in Indian visitors to Vienna was among the highest after the Arabic countries and Taiwan. During 2015 overnight stays crossed the 14 million mark for the first time, representing a healthy 5.9 per cent increase of over previous year.

With effect from March 1, Jet Airways will launch a sixth daily frequency from Mumbai to Dubai. With the introduction of this new flight, Jet Airways will offer the maximum number of daily flights between the two cities. Jet Airways will also launch a third daily frequency between Delhi and Dubai, starting March 27, offering guests a greater choice when travelling between India’s national capital and the Emirate. With the launch of the new frequencies, Jet Airways will operate a total of 11 daily flights between India and Dubai. This includes flights from Kochi and Mangalore. Gaurang Shetty, Senior Vice-President – Commercial, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways is delighted to introduce additional frequencies from Mumbai and Delhi to Dubai providing greater choice and convenience to our guests on these popular routes. Dubai is amongst our most popular destinations for business and leisure travellers and it was only fitting to increase capacity to this key market. The new frequencies will enable Jet Airways to offer guests a wide choice of departure times to/from Dubai and convenient domestic connections via our hubs in Mumbai and Delhi.” Jet Airways will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the new services, offering Premiere and Economy guests a best in class in-flight product, warm service, a choice of Indian and international cuisine and the latest in-flight entertainment.

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will start twice daily flights to Delhi from March 26. The price for the flight from Delhi-Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is Rs 32,018, while that from Addis Ababa- Delhi will cost Rs 33,051. Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines, said, “We are pleased to offer our customers a double daily service to Delhi. India being one of the strongest economic muscles zooming into the global economic picture, availing more frequencies would catalyse the channelling of investors from both countries and facilitating business. Moreover the addition of the flight would have a paramount significance in strengthening the growing economic, political, and social relationship of the two countries in particular and the two continents in general. Our customers will be able to make an immediate connection to cities like Hargeisa, Khartoum, Nairobi and some Southern African flights.” Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director India Sub Continent, said, “We are really excited about the expansion plans of Ethiopian Airlines all over the world and in particular about the double daily operations not only from Mumbai but another Indian city- Delhi added to the list. We are striving to give our esteemed clients more convenient connections out of India.” The airline will  ply the latest B737-800 New Generation Sky Interior aircraft on this route.

IndiGo has launched 10 flights across its domestic and international network. The airline will connect Delhi to Dubai from February 10; Bengaluru to Patna and Ranchi from February 15; and from February 18 flights will operate between Chandigarh to Delhi and Kochi (via Delhi); and Jaipur and Pune. Also, Delhi-Lucknow route will now have eight daily non-stop flights, with effect from February 18. The 3rd daily non-stop flight, effective Feb 10, from Delhi to Dubai costs Rs 6,980, while the Dubai to Delhi flight will cost Rs 7,025.The first daily non-stop flight, effective Feb 15, from Bengaluru to Patna will cost Rs 5,737, while the Ranchi to Bengaluru 1st daily non-stop flight will cost Rs 4,349. For flights effective Feb 18, the 1st daily non-stop flights from Delhi to Chandigarh will cost Rs 1,600; from Chandigarh to Delhi Rs 1478; Chandigarh to Kochi (via Delhi) will cost Rs 6,268; Kochi to Chandigarh (via Delhi) is worth Rs 6,313. Flights from Jaipur to Pune will cost Rs 3,933; and Pune to Jaipur Rs 3,730. The 8th daily non-stop flights from Delhi to Lucknow cost Rs 1,761 and from Lucknow to Delhi is for Rs 1,831. With the launch of these new flights the airline will operate 700 daily flights, connecting 39 destinations.

Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier of Indonesia, is reportedly planning to start flights between Mumbai and Bali, in order to tap the growing Indian honeymoon and Hindu pilgrimage markets. It is said that Garuda might operate charter flights in advance of plans for scheduled departures. According to Handayani, Commercial Director, Garuda Indonesia, the middle to upper classes of India are the ones who go on a religious journey to Bali. Currently, Garuda does not currently operate any flights to India, and no airline flies direct between Bali and India. Earlier this month Garuda commenced flights between Bali and Shanghai.

United Kingdom (UK) granted over 360,000 visitor visas, until September 2015, a 16.5 per cent increase year on year, according to recently released statistics. With the commercial partner VFS, UK offers 15 visa application centres across India, more than in any other country. Visa application centres are situated in Delhi, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Mumbai South, Mumbai North, Pune, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Jaipur and Goa. A number of premium services are offered to the UK Visa applicants at the Visa Application Centre (VAC). VFS Users can avail walk in appointments where urgent travellers or those who have missed their appointment, can pay Rs 2537 to get a walk in appointment. Digital Assistance is provided in filling out the visa application form on the visa4uk website. The staff reads out questions on the form, and records the answers verbatim on behalf of the applicant for an extra cost of Rs 400. Group Appointments is available for group travellers who can apply at the same visa application centre at a particular time and day. This service is extended to all groups including tour operators, large families, conferences etc for Rs 500 per application. Travellers can pay for their visa by cash at the VAC, using VFS Global’s Credit Card at an additional cost of Rs 1000 per transaction. Certification service enables travellers to keep hold of their original documents. Applicants need to bring original documentation to the VAC to show VFS staff, who photocopy the documents and send to the decision hub along with the application. This service costs Rs 50 per document page. In 2015, India became the second country to benefit from the British Irish Visa Scheme, allowing Indian …

Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) is all set to organise 15 roadshows across the country starting January 15, 2016. Farooq A. Shah, Secretary Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir and Managing Director, JKTDC, said that Jammu will emerge as an independent tourist destination. “This year Jammu festival will be organised at a large scale to showcase the rich culture tradition and heritage of Jammu and will showcase its immense unexplored tourism potential through these roadshows. Conducted in all metro cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and more, the roadshows will also have 10 food festivals organised in specific towns and cities across the country to attract maximum visitors to the state of Jammu & Kashmir. These roadshow will be professionally organised to reach out to the majority of the relevant market segments, which are important for Jammu & Kashmir tourism.