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AIRLINES
Kingfisher launches Bengaluru-Dubai flights
from June 25
Kingfisher Airlines has started daily
flights from Bengaluru to Dubai from June 25. After London, Colombo and
Dhaka, Dubai is the fourth destination on the international network of
Kingfisher Airlines. The daily flight leaves Bengaluru at 6:15 pm and
reaches Dubai at 8:55 pm, local time. The return flight takes off from Dubai
at 10:10 pm and reaches Bengaluru at 3:45 am, the following day. Tentative
return ticket fare for the flight is Rs 19,750 on weekend services and Rs
15,625 for off-peak weekdays. Initially, the airline will fly only one
flight, carrying 174 passengers, but the services will increase in future.
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flydubai to fly to Lucknow from July 13
With a view to give a final shape to its
expansion plans, Dubai’s low-cost airline flydubai is entering the Indian
market. flydubai will operate flights from Lucknow, Coimbatore and
Chandigarh from July onwards. flydubai will commence its India operations
with flights to Lucknow from July 13 onwards. This will be followed by
Coimbatore on July 14 and Chandigarh on July 23. From Lucknow, the airline
will operate service four times a week while Coimbatore service will run
thrice-a-week. Also, flight FZ432 will become the first international
service to depart from Chandigarh airport on July 23.
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China Eastern to increase frequency from three to five weekly
flights from Delhi effective October
China Eastern Airlines
recently started daily operations from Kolkata and is planning to increase
flights from Delhi with effect from October. China Eastern Airlines, which
earlier operated four weekly flights on the Kolkata-Kunming route, has
started operating seven weekly flights on the same sector from June 1. With
all these improvements being made on the Kolkata route, the airline is also
making efforts on Delhi-Shanghai route. It plans to increase frequency on
Delhi-Shanghai route by October end from current three weekly flights to
five flights per week.
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SpiceJet to start international operations next year
SpiceJet, after completing four years
of domestic operations successfully in India, is now looking forward to
complete the fifth year so that it becomes eligible to start international
operations. The airline started operations in 2005 with four flights
connecting four cities, and at present, it operates 125 daily departures to
18 cities. The airline is in the process of evaluating various options to
find out what will give its passengers the best option and the best yield.
SpiceJet is evaluating options closer home, than look at flying to Europe or
the America, according to the airline sources. Presently, SpiceJet has a
market share of 12.6 per cent, which has gone up from 7.9 per cent since
September 2008.
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AGENTS
Thomas Cook & Cox and Kings join hands to
support the fight for zero commission
Travel
agents like Thomas Cook and Cox & Kings have officially extended support to
the Indian travel agents’ ongoing stir against zero commission. Recently,
Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has been assured support from
Thomas Cook, Cox & Kings and other consolidators and tour operators to their
fight against the zero commission regime. Madhavan Menon; Thomas Cook,
Suresh Makhija Carlson Wagonlit; Karan Anand, Cox & Kings; Ajay Bali, BCD
Travels; P. Srinivasan, Kuoni Tours and Sudhir Patil, Kesari Tours were
present in a recently held meeting organised by TAAI and unanimously agreed
to support the cause of the travel trade fraternity. They also agreed to
meet the representatives from Singapore Airlines to repeal their decision on
zero commission.
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ASSOCIATIONS
ADTOI seeks small scale industry status from
MOT
In a recent development as disclosed by
Rakesh Lamba, president, ADTOI, the association has submitted a crucial five
point proposal to MOT seeking small scale industry status for the domestic
tour operators and a mandatory registration policy for the new tour
operators. The proposal covers issues concerning domestic tour operators to
the overall growth of domestic tourism in India. The five-point proposal
includes granting a small scale industry status for domestic tour operators,
making a mandatory registration policy for all tour operators, giving an
income tax rebate for the domestic tourists, abolition of service tax and an
activity based tourism infrastructure development.
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IATO's roadshows in Netherlands, Belgium &
France in September
Indian Association of Tour Operators'
(IATO) next round of roadshows in association with Ministry of Tourism (MOT),
Government of India, is now set to travel to Europe in September. The roadshow is slated to begin on September 14 covering destinations like
Amsterdam in Netherlands, Brussels in Belgium, Leone in France and will
culminate at the French capital during International French Travel Market -
Top Resa (a travel trade expo) from September 22-25, 2009. The third round
of roadshows in Europe is expected to be in October. The roadshow will
travel to Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Prague(Czech Republic),
Budapest (Hungry) and Warsaw (Poland). The roadshows have already been
approved and are expected to be organised by mid October.
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IATO convention from Sept 3-6 in Bengaluru
Indian Association of Tour Operators
(IATO) has confirmed Bengaluru as the venue for its much awaited silver
jubilee convention. Confirming the convention venue, Vijay Thakur,
president, IATO said, “The 25th annual convention of IATO will be organised
from September 3-6 at The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru.”
Arun Anand, vice president, IATO has been appointed as the chairman,
convention committee and Lally Mathews, honourary treasurer, IATO, will take
over the reigns as co-chairman, convention committee. Madhya Pradesh would
be the partner state this year. The theme at the 25th annual
convention would be managing the downturn.
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IAAI petition on zero commission at Kerala
High Court to come up for hearing on July 13
Hearing of IAAI’s (IATA Agents
Association of India) writ petition filed at the Kerala High Court on behalf
of the IATA travel agents in India, contesting the implementation of zero
commission by some airlines, has been deferred until July 13. The Asst.
Solicitor-General of India representing the ministry of civil aviation,
Government of India and DGCA, respondents 1 & 2, sought the court’s
indulgence for time till July 13 to get further instructions in the matter.
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HOTELS
First Novotel hotel with 203 rooms opens in
Mumbai (special rate Rs 7500+ per room)
Novotel Mumbai Juhu Beach, Accor’s first property in Mumbai as well as first
Novotel hotel, opened its door recently. Spread over 2.5 acres of a scenic
beach-front site, Novotel Mumbai Juhu Beach, will offer 203 guest rooms and
suites with views overlooking the Arabian Sea. This will include 12 suites,
60 premier rooms and 131 standard rooms. The property will also offer
state-of-the-art banquet facilities occupying an area of 7,550 square feet
with four banquet halls and adjoining verandas. Novotel Mumbai Juhu
Beach has released a promotional rate of Rs 7,500+ for a standard room and
Rs 8,500 for a premier room with ocean views; inclusive of breakfast and
transfers.
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Sarovar to add more hotels in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Siliguri & Gurgaon
Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, one of the fastest growing hotel management
companies in India is all set to add four more hotels at Chandigarh,
Ludhiana, Gurgaon and Siliguri to its existing portfolio. Besides, the hotel
company is also gradually increasing its international footprints. Sarovar
has recently signed management contract for a hotel at Nairobi in Kenya,
slated to open its door later this month under Sarovar Premier brand.
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RAILWAYS
50 railway stations to come up with world
class facilities
Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee, while presenting the 15th
railway budget, has disclosed plans to develop multi-functional world-class
complexes at 50 station premises with budget hotels, shopping facilities and
food stalls. These world-class facilities will come up at Mumbai, Kolkata,
Bengaluru, Varanasi, Guwahati, Chennai, Mangalore, Porbandar and Kochi,
among others, targetting stations that serve as centres of pilgrimage,
tourist and industry.
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STATES
MP Tourism offers to private sector land and
heritage palaces for building tourism infrastructure
Madhya Pradesh Tourism has decided to invite private individuals,
companies and other bodies for building hotels, resorts and entertainment
centres in state. For this purpose, the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism
Development Coproration (MPSTDC) has made a land bank and has also earmarked
some of its own properties for being given on a 90-year lease. Presently,
the properties that are being offered through a transparent process include
the Laxmipur Palace at Panna, Govindgarh Fort in Rewa, land on Indore-Ujjain
Road, land at Pench (tiger reserve) and land at Orchha. Subsequently, many
more lands, including one at Bandhavgarh and at Bhopal shall be offered
shortly.
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TECHNOLOGY
Abacus PowerConnect simplifying operations
for small & medium-sized travel agencies
Abacus
International has launched a new solution – Abacus PowerConnect - specially
designed for small and medium-sized agencies seeking to improve their
operations. With Abacus PowerConnect, these agencies can streamline and
automate their mid-and back office functions such as making bookings,
issuing documents, settling transactions, payment, inventory management and
real-time reporting.
Travel agency owners can choose to enhance this solution with a general
ledger module. Designed to improve end-to-end financial management
processes, it has capabilities to automatically generate journal entries,
charts of accounts, and real-time financial reports as well as set
accounting periods.
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