Tag Archives: TAAI

The TAAI UP and UK chapter visited UPSTDC and met Director General Ravi Kumar to discuss promoting UP as a wholesome tourist destination for domestic as well as international passengers.

In a written statement, Air Asia India has clarified with TAAI that they are not going out of business. The statement by Ankur Garg, CCO, Air Asia India, pointed out, “While the current pandemic has severely impacted the aviation sector and AirAsia India is no exception, we have remained adequately capitalized throughout these months by securing the funding from our majority shareholder as and when required.” He further said that they continue to grow their network and are already at ~55% of their pre-COVID capacity and looking to increase to 70% as per the recent relaxed capacity mandate from the government last week. They have also recently added a brand new A320 NEO to their fleet in Oct, adding a 2nd NEO in Nov and will add another 3 aircraft in as many months. Giving another evidence of the financial stability of AirAsia India, Garg reveals that they have been smoothly processing all refunds in the last few months and never forced a conversion of bookings during lockdown to “credit shells”. In the months of Sep-Oct, Air Asia leadership proactively engaged in regional meetings with travel agent partners across the entire country and addressed any questions on refunds, long term growth plans, etc. On the employee front, we have not retrenched any staff and have not done salary cuts for employees earning less than Rs 50,000 per month, and also no delay in salary pay-outs has happened for any month since the pandemic, he informed. Citing these points, Garg said that he hopes that it would dispel any doubts and provide enough confidence in the financial sustainability and growth plans of AirAsia India.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has written to Minister of Civil Aviation and Minister of Tourism to request them to open tourist visas for foreigners to visit India; to make RTPCR tests mandatory for all arriving passengers with no quarantine; to absorb the costs of RTPCR test and waive it for travellers; should offer mandatory travel insurance for all incoming tourists, and allow travel to countries with which they don’t have air bubble agreement via flights through countries with which These agreements  are in place. Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, had commented recently, “This would allow airlines to offer connecting flights to countries that are allowing Indians to visit. Many countries, which are not connected directly, like South Africa, South America, etc., but people want to travel there. Hence, there is a need to open beyond air bubbles. This would allow footfall on both sides.”

The MP&CG Chapter of TAAI recently organised a physical event for its members at Crescent Spa & Resort, Indore. Hemendra Singh Jadon, Chapter Chairman (MP & Chhattisgarh), TAAI, shares, “We organised our annual members meet on October 31 at the resort keeping all health protocols in mind, and 45 members attended it. The aim is to not just conduct our annual meet but also to build confidence among our clients that we are ready to travel. We conducted presentations on MSME benefits and on Star Air airline for members.”

Sharing her thoughts on the changes made by the FM on LTC, Jyoti Mayal, President of TAAI, said, “The Finance Minister in her stimulus speech has announced that government officials can use their LTC funds to buy consumer goods for the festive season. The tourism industry instead of being bailed out is now deprived of the LTC fund. Our industry is dying and our employees are losing jobs in every avenue but the Prime Minister has forgotten of our existence – the backbone of India.”

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that they have been in discussion with Ministry of Civil Aviation for many of their issues, one of which is the acceptance of credit cards by airlines. “It has been cleared by the PAPJC and IATA, but we are still knocking every airline’s door. There should be a directive from the government for the same. There should be neutral capping of fares. Also, we are looking at remuneration in a big way. As travel consultants, we should have a right to charge our fee. Else, our services can be treated as MRP product so that we are protected. We should be allowed to charge 10% fee on it like the hotel industry is charging service fee,” she said.

As part of the panel during a webinar on risk management recently, Anoop Kanuga, MC Member of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Head of its Tourism Council, said, “Training existing talent to improve efficiencies will take precedence in the current situation. Digitization will play an important role and travel agencies will have to ensure that they are equipped with appropriate digital infrastructure to be ahead of the curve. Those who are nimble and are able to move quickly and address the changing needs of the traveller will emerge as winners in the long run.”

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that they had met Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of Tourism & Culture, along with the other association heads, where they have requested him to initiate a meeting with Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, so that they can discuss their issues with him, especially regarding restructuring tourism business, refunds, money stuck with airlines, and also about Air India and the service fee that the agents charge for booking VBM flights.

TAAI has voiced its dejection on Air India’s social media post as well as communications to travellers to book on their website and verify airfares with the airlines before booking with agents. The airline has also stated that agents block inventory on GDS. The association has written to MoCA & Air India to withdraw the same.