Tag Archives: Guwahati

Jet Airways has announced plans to introduce new city pairs Bengaluru – Guwahati (subject to final regulatory approvals) as well as Hyderabad-Indore, thus connecting travellers from emerging cities to the metropolises. The airline will introduce new first daily direct service  effective from August 1, 2018, on the Bengaluru-Guwahati-Bengaluru route and on the Hyderabad-Indore-Chandigarh-Indore-Hyderabad route. Jet Airways 9W 659 will depart from Bengaluru at 1015 hrs and arrive Guwahati at 1315 hrs. On the return leg, Jet Airways flight 9W 660 will take off from Guwahati at 1620 hrs. and arrive into Bengaluru at 1930 hrs. The airline will also connect Hyderabad and Chandigarh from August 1. Jet Airways 9W 955 will depart from Hyderabad at 1050 hrs. and have a stopover at Indore, arriving into the city at 1215 hrs. The flight will depart from Indore at 1245 hrs. arriving into Chandigarh at 1445 hrs. On its return journey, flight 9W 958 will depart from Chandigarh at 1515 hrs. and land at Indore at 1715 hrs. The flight will then depart for Hyderabad at 1800 hrs., arriving at its destination at 1925 hrs. This flight will be operated by Jet Airways on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

IndiGo is set to operate flights to and from Surat from August 16, 2018, connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Jaipur. After a successful launch of seven domestic and two international destinations since January 2018, the airline has announced Surat as its 56th destination. Bookings are open with immediate effect with fares starting from Rs 1999. To provide more enhanced connectivity across India, IndiGo will operate three new routes, including Jaipur-Varanasi, Jaipur-Guwahati and Mumbai-Bagdogra. All new services start in August 2018. The new flights are designed to cater to business and leisure travellers who are constantly on the lookout for new and affordable flying options. Customers who wish to plan their travel can book tickets via the official website. William Boulter, Chief Strategy Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to have the opportunity to fly out of Surat starting August 2018. Surat, undoubtedly holds immense potential for IndiGo, and launching operations to and from the diamond city is in line with our growth strategy for the India market. We are also launching three other new routes which includes Jaipur-Varanasi, Jaipur-Guwahati, and Mumbai-Bagdogra.  With these new services, we are providing more flexibility of choice to our customers as IndiGo continues to offer them on time, courteous and hassle-free service and an always affordable flying experience.”  

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the investments for expansion and upgradation of integrated terminals at Chennai, Guwahati and Lucknow airports by Airport Authority of India. Airports Authority of India has been assigned for the project with a total estimate of about Rs 5,000 crores to modernise, upgrade services, build new terminal buildings or upgrade the new terminals in Chennai, Lucknow and Guwahati. Jayant Sinha, Minister of Civil Aviation, made the announcement regarding the approval of the investment by Cabinet and assured that work for it would begin at the earliest.  

SpiceJet will soon connect Assam’s northern district of Lakhimpur with Jorhat in the south, announced Ajay Singh, Chief Managing Director, SpiceJet at Advantage Assam-Global Investors Summit’18 in Guwahati. The move will, if it comes through, form part of Centre’s UDAN or Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), an initiative taken to make air travel to India’s Tier-II and III cities affordable and at the same time putting remote regions on the country’s aviation map. “For India to grow, it is critical that North East grows. And, the region cannot grow without connectivity. SpiceJet connects cities of Guwahati, Silchar and Dibrugarh to other parts of the country and under UDAN, we will soon be connecting Lakhimpur and Jorhat,” Singh said. The two-day event showcased the state’s manufacturing opportunities and geostrategic advantages to foreign and domestic investors. The summit was organised by the Assam Government, in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). There were a number of focus sectors identified by the state, which includes agriculture and food processing, organic farming, bamboo, handloom, textile and handicrafts, inland water transport, riverfront development and logistics. Source:ANI 

The 6th International Tourism Mart (ITM) organised by the Ministry of Tourism in association with the North Eastern States begins in Guwahati, Assam. Jagdish Mukhi, Governor of Assam in the presence of Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister, Assam; K J Alphons, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism, Rashmi Verma, Union Tourism Secretary and other dignitaries from Central Ministries and North Eastern States inaugurated the three-day event. Besides foreign delegates, 50 domestic stakeholders and 103 sellers from the North Eastern States are participating in the Mart. Representatives of State Tourism Departments of North East States will also showcase their tourism destinations. Held from December 5-7, the event will put the spotlight on India’s ‘Act East Policy’, blossoming ties with ASEAN and the larger East Asia region, home to the world’s rapidly growing economies. The panel discussions will also focus on promoting cultural ties, people-to-people contact with countries in the ASEAN region providing enhanced connectivity to the States of North Eastern Region, thereby developing inter-regional tourism between the ASEAN and North East Region of India. ITM – 2017 will also see an active participation by the Ministry of DONER to synergise the process of development of tourism of the North East Region.  

In an attempt to cater to the growing travel demands across markets, Ezeego1.com has recently opened a series of eight new franchise stores across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Dhule, Uttarakhand, Guwahati and Amritsar. These stores will provide services like flight tickets, hotels, packages, rail holidays and cruise holidays through a single platform from a diverse mix of travel suppliers offering the best in class services. The company will provide the franchisee with an active marketing, technical and store development support. The marketing activity will include print and radio advertising, attractive and preferential commercials while the store development support will include store designing to reinforce the brand’s look and feel. Training and technical support will be provided to all franchisee staff to effectively address the changing technology and enhance customer interface. Neelu Singh, CEO and Director, Ezeego1, said, “Distribution is the key to success in the growing travel market and the opening of our new franchise stores in these markets will help us gain a foothold. Our offerings are curated from a slew of travel aggregators and we enable and distribute it through our platform.’’

The Ministry of Tourism in association with the North Eastern States is set to organise the International Tourism Mart (ITM) in Guwahati, Assam from December 5-7, 2017. The event will be held at Taj Vivanta, and will be inaugurated by Jagdish Mukhi, Governor of Assam in the presence of Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister, Assam and K J Alphons, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism, along with other dignitaries from Central Ministries and North Eastern States. The 6th ITM will focus on India’s ‘Act East Policy’, blossoming ties with ASEAN and the larger East Asia region. Besides deliberations on promotion of tourism in the North East Region, the panel discussions will also lay emphasis on promoting cultural ties, strengthening contact with countries in the ASEAN region and providing enhanced connectivity to the North Eastern states. The ITM 2017 will also see an active participation by the Ministry of DONER to synergise the process of development of tourism in the North East region.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the International Chamber for Service Industry (ICSI) will jointly organise an International Conference on Strengthening Aviation Network between North East Indian Region and Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (BCLMV countries) at Radisson Blu Hotel Guwahati in Assam today. The mega event aims to bring nations closer by augmenting and improving travel, trade and people to people contacts through a stronger aviation network. It will be attended by dignitaries from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India, as well as Indian and international carriers and other leading aviation business entities. Over the past few years India’s trade with the BCLMV countries has grown exponentially with the total trade with CLMV countries growing seven-fold from $1.4 billion in 2005 to $10.3 billion in 2015 and current trade volume with Bangladesh at about $6.6 billion. The key points of deliberation at the conference were the need of direct connectivity of airlines between NER and BCLMV countries, infrastructure development and capacity building along with the liberalisation of ASEAN open sky policy for NER (I). The initiative shows that the NER figures very high in the list of priorities of not only the government but also of the air transport sector which sees immense unrealised potential in this part of the country.

Air India has a market share of 17 per cent in the North East, which seemingly is a profitable sector for the airline. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman & Managing Director, Air India informed that while some sectors are not profitable in the North East, overall the operations remain gainful as they get a viability gap funding from North Eastern Council (NEC). He also informed that they are considering to operate a direct flight between Guwahati and Bangkok or between Guwahati and Kunming thrice a week. He informed that they are planning to start a new flight between New Delhi and Guwahati from June 28, taking the number of flights on this route to two. Also the Guwahati-Kolkata flight is most definitely on the cards.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the initiation of the process of disinvestment of hotels/properties of the India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (ITDC). In the first stage of the disinvestment process, three hotels have been taken up for disinvestment—Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati, Hotel Bharatpur Ashok, Bharatpur. In all three cases, the hotels/properties are being given back to the concerned states. In the case of Bhopal and Guwahati, ITDC is divesting its share of 51 per cent in the Joint Venture Company formed for operation of the hotels whereas in the case of Bharatpur, the unit which was only managed by ITDC is being returned to the State Government. The decision on disinvestment has been made, keeping in view that running and managing hotels on professional lines is not the work of the Government or its entities. Further, there has been considerable development in the hospitality sector in the country in past years, with world class hotels and all leading international chains of hotels present in the country and providing services and facilities of highest standards. As part of the disinvestment policy, it has been decided to lease/sub-lease the hotels/properties jointly with the concerned states or return the properties to the states, after fair valuation. The states would then have the option to upgrade and operate the Hotels by involving the private sector or to utilize the properties as per their requirements. States have exercised their options accordingly, in each case going forward with the option best suited to their needs, in line with the overarching principle that it is not the business of Government to run or manage hotels.