Tag Archives: IATA

In anticipation of IATA’s new standardised reporting procedures worldwide, the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has agreed to participate in its pilot programme that will start from October this year. Four members (one from Delhi and Ahmedabad each and two from Mumbai) have agreed to be a part of it. Commenting on this, Pradip Lulla, Vice President, TAFI, said, “We are doing a pilot run on enhanced reporting for IATA and the participating agents will give their inputs once it is completed. IATA workshops will be held in different regions when they are introducing it in India where agents can come and understand the new reporting procedures.” He said that the new system of reporting will be simplified and more graphic. Everything else will remain the same. “It will help agents to have a better report, that’s all,” he said. This will be followed by workshops by IATA for its entire member base.

India continues to lead all markets with a 23.3 per cent rise in domestic traffic in June, propelled by strong growth in real consumer spending as well as by the fact that airlines are adding airport pairs and frequencies. This was revealed in International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) global passenger traffic data for June. Demand for domestic travel climbed 5.7 per cent this June compared to June 2015, while capacity increased 4.3 per cent, causing load factor to rise 1.1 percentage points to 83.2 pre cent. All markets reported demand increases with the exception of Brazil. Domestic RPKs account for about 36 per cent of the total market. The global passenger traffic data for June showing that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose by 5.2% compared to the year-ago period. This was up slightly from the 4.8% increase recorded in May (revised). However, the upward trend in seasonally-adjusted traffic has moderated since January. June capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 5.6%, and load factor slipped 0.3 percentage points to 80.7%. “The demand for travel continues to increase, but at a slower pace. The fragile and uncertain economic backdrop, political shocks and a wave of terrorist attacks are all contributing to a softer demand environment,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

The IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) is all set to hold its convention — ICON 2016 — in November at New Delhi. The decision to hold the convention was unanimously taken at the National Management Committee Meeting of IAAI, which was held at Kochi, Kerala on July 22-23, 2016. This will be for the first time that Convention will be held in Northern India which is seen as the result of excellent growth and popularity of IAAI in the region. H S Chawla (Delhi) will be the Chairman of ICON 2016 Reception Committee. Jagdeep Bhagat (Delhi) is nominated to be the Convention Chairman, while VKT Balan (Tamil Nadu) and  Aveek Ghosh (Uttar Pradesh) have been nominated as Convention Co-Chairman. Vipin Chandra (Kerala),Madhav Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), Manish Synghal (Maharasthra), Tushar Jain, Vikas Arora, Sanjay Kumar Bhardwaj, Harish Verma from IAAI Northern Region will be part of the convention team.

The Travel Agents Association of India has relaxed its rules for Active Category Membership and will be offering active membership to all IATA affiliated agents with or without having completed a year from the company operations. This was decided at the recently held TAAI Managing Committee Meeting, where it was discussed that in order to increase the Active Category Membership of our esteemed Association, prospective members who have got IATA can immediately apply for Active Category Membership With TAAI within one year itself and no need to complete one year from the company operations. According to a statement from TAAI, while applying for new Active Category Membership With TAAI, such members can attach the financial documents which they had submitted to IATA along with the other relevant documents pertaining to new membership.

Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways, has been elected on the Board of Governors (BoG) of International Air Transport Association (IATA). The announcement was made at the IATA AGM held at Dublin from the June 1-3, 2016. While Willie Walsh, CEO, Aeromexico, has been elected as the Chairman of IATA Borad of Governors.

Alexandre de Juniac, Chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM, will succeed Tony Tyler as IATA’s Director General and CEO effective from September 1, 2016. De Juniac will be the seventh person to lead IATA as its Director General. “I thank my industry colleagues for their confidence in confirming me as IATA’s next Director General and CEO. Aviation is a vitally important industry—connecting economies, facilitating business, creating jobs and linking people. My aim is to help airlines to be even more successful businesses creating even greater economic and social value. I want all of our members to have a future that is even safer, more efficient, sustainable and increasingly profitable,” said de Juniac. De Juniac will join IATA from Air France-KLM where has served as Chairman and CEO since 2013. Prior to that, he was the Chairman and CEO of Air France (2011-2013). From 1995 to 2009 de Juniac held various leadership positions in Thales and has also held positions in the French government. IATA’s next AGM and World Transport Summit will be hosted by Aeromexico in Cancun, Mexico from 4-6 June 2017.

India’s domestic traffic soared 21.8 per cent, marking the 20th month of double-digit traffic growth and the 13th consecutive month it has led the domestic markets. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong economic backdrop as well as by substantial increases in service frequencies, according to International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) global passenger traffic data for April. Demand for domestic travel climbed 4.1 per cent in April compared to April 2015, while capacity increased 3.8 per cent, causing load factor to rise 0.3 percentage points to 81.4 per cent. All markets reported demand increases with the exception of Brazil, which showed a 12.1 per cent decline, reflecting the country’s ongoing economic recession and political turmoil.  

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts that India will be the third-largest aviation market in the world within 10 years. Referring to the draft National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), Tony Tyler, Director General of IATA, says, “India should develop its aviation policy to try to realise the huge potential of this market. Clearly it’s a good thing that the government has put together an aviation plan that will help make this happen. Certainly having an aviation plan like this is a step in the right direction but I do have to say that I am concerned about some aspects of it. Particularly where it’s going to ride cost to the industry or in some cases deviate from what are well accepted, tried and tested global principles. I have written to Ashok Gajapati Raju, Minister of Civil Aviation and Choubey, Civil Aviation Secretary about these issues.”

India’s domestic air travel soared 22.9 per cent in January compared to a year ago. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong domestic economy and increases in air services. The Indian market overtook both Australia and Japan during 2015 and is currently level with Russia at around 1.2 per cent of global revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for January 2016 showing demand (RPKs) rose 7.1% compared to January 2015. This was ahead of the 2015 full year growth rate of 6.5%. January capacity rose 5.6%, with the result that load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 78.8%, the highest load factor ever recorded for the first month of the year. Domestic air travel rose 6.8 per cent in January year-on-year. Capacity rose 5.1 per cent and load factor was 78.9 per cent, up 1.3 per cent percentage points. “January maintained the strong traffic growth trend seen in 2015, showing the resilience of demand for connectivity despite recent turmoil in equity markets.The record load factor is a result of strong demand for our product and airlines making the most productive use of their assets. Underlying conditions point to another strong year for passenger traffic, with the latestdecline in oil prices likely providing additional stimulus for air travel growth,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Domestic RPKs accounted for about 36% of the total market in 2015. It is most important for North American airlines as it is about 66% of their operations. In Latin America, domestic travel accounts for 46% of operations, primarily owing to the large Brazilian market. For Asia-Pacific carriers, the large markets in India, China …

Expressing disatisfaction over the Budget ’16, Conrad Clifford, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, International Air Transport Association (IATA), said, “The budget had a minimal focus on aviation. We hope the government will do a better job with the National Civil Aviation Policy. While the NCAP is a step in the right direction, there are areas of concern, especially where it adds costs to the industry or where it deviates from well-established global standards. We hope the government will address three priority areas – retract the 2 per cent Regional Connectivity Fund levy, abandon the plan to auction traffic rights, and allow AERA to perform its functions independently by not enshrining any ‘Till’ for airport charges in the Policy document.”