Tag Archives: Delhi

In a recent event organised in Delhi, Rare Destinations and Experiences brought together some of their partners who recently have come on board. Shoba Mohan, Founder Partner, Rare, in conversation with TravelTV.News, said that they are aiming for a 44 per cent occupancy and want the partners to do more business. She said, “We started with four properties and now we are 44. We would like to cap it at 50. We want our hotels to start making money out of this. For most of our partners it’s a sustaining business. We are looking at 44 per cent occupancy and to break that barrier and reach 60-70 per cent is actually when they will start making money.”

Mega Maldives Airlines, is all set to start its thrice a week flight between Delhi and Male on November 15.  The airline has introduced an inaugural offer for this flight at a price of Rs 22,990 for the round trip. “We are thrilled with the positive response both in India and in Maldives to our new services to India. The resort and hospitality community of Maldives is clearly throwing open their doors to an excited and dynamic Indian market,” said George Weinmann, founder and Chief Executive Office, Mega Maldives Airline. “The Maldives is consistently ranked among the world’s best tourist destinations. It is also increasingly popular with Indian tourists with over 52,000 guests arriving in 2015, and growing at almost 20% per year in recent years.” As the first non-stop service between the two capital cities, Mega Maldives Airlines provides significant advantages to what is available in the market. At a journey time of just 3Hrs 40Min (outbound) and 4Hrs and 20Min (Inbound), this is the fastest and only non-stop connection between the two cities, cutting journey times on other existing flight options by between 2-8 hours.

Air India set a record with its longest non-stop flight from Delhi to San Francisco. The Boeing 777-200 long range aircraft took the Pacific route instead of the Atlantic route, adding an additional 1400 km to the route but was completed in 14 and a half hours, two hours lesser than the conventional flight due to the helpful tailwinds. “From October 15, the flight which connected Delhi and San Francisco via the Atlantic route has begun operations on the Pacific route and returns on the Atlantic route, making it the only flight that goes around the world,” says Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial and Board Member, Air India. This route also saved around 13 tons of fuel. Air India currently operates flights on the Delhi-San Francisco route three times a week but its growing popularity has prompted the airline to double this from November, flying east each time for the next six months. Inputs from: The Telegraph UK

Destination Canada in partnership with Air Canada has branded 350 radio taxis in New Delhi. The promotional campaign was inaugurated at the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi by Rupert Peters, Regional Managing Director, Europe, Australia and India; Jess Dutton, Acting High Commissioner of Canada to India, and Margaret Skinner, Director, Sales -EMEAI, Air Canada.

Air Canada’s inaugural flight AC 72 from Vancouver to Delhi arrived in the national capital on October 22 morning. The seasonal, three-times weekly flight features 787-9 Dreamliner service and offers the shortest elapsed flying time from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles to the Indian subcontinent. Kevin Howlett, Senior Vice President, Regional Markets and Government Relations, Air Canada, says, “This flight is part of our three-pronged strategy into India, where the Delhi-Toronto flight launched last year was the first step, which would go daily on November 6, 2016. The new Delhi-Vancouver flight is the second major connection addressing a huge VFR and business market between both the countries. Finally, the Mumbai-Toronto flight starting from July 1, 2017, will be a major step in our expansion in India, as Mumbai is the business capital of India.”

China Southern Airlines has launched two new connections — Guangzhou-Adelaide and Guangzhou-Toronto. Starting December 7, 2016, the double daily flights would offer further connections for Indians travelling to these destinations, especially with a great frequency on the airline between Delhi and Guangzhou. Chen Yongguang, General Manager, China Southern Airlines, announced the new connections at an evening of cocktail and dinner at The Lalit, New Delhi, in the presence of representatives from the travel trade and media. He said that the new flights would be beneficial to Indians travelling to Australia and Canada, and that too at a good price.

Air India is going to begin its Amritsar-Toronto operations in 2017 via Birmingham, said Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial, Air India. Air India will also connect Delhi with Washington D.C. next year. Srivastava said, “We have grown substantially on the international network. In the last one year we have added 4 new networks to our operations which are operated on Dreamliners. Delhi-Madrid will begin operations from December 1 this year. Under the regional connectivity scheme, we are already planning operations to connect the Tier III and Tier II cities on Air India.” He also informed that Air India has managed to focus on its deeds and improve its services which has turned around their profits and recently the company posted a profit of RS 105 crores.

Tajik Air announces that it will be flying twice a week from November 1 between Delhi and Dushanbe. Mirzosharif A. Jalolov, Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan said, “We used to have one flight from New Delhi to Dushanbe earlier. Starting from next month, we are starting a new flight which will operate every Tuesday between the two capitals. The flying time is 2 hours and 15 minutes which makes it a convenient destination for the Indians.”

In August 2016, the Indian capital’s average occupancy was 61.5 per cent last recording a 7.2 per cent increase compared to the same month the previous year, according to the latest data released by STR. Coupled with a 1.4 per cent rise in average daily rate (ADR) to Rs. 5,376 (approx. $81), Delhi’s revenue per available room (revPAR) rose by 8.7 per cent to Rs. 3,304. The upscale and upper midscale sector reported the strongest revPAR growth in Delhi in August, rising 11.7 per cent. International arrivals to the country increased 12 per cent in August along with consistent double-digit growth in terms of domestic air travel. Delhi Airport alone welcomed more than a quarter (28%) of these inbound visitors.

Mahan Airlines operated its inaugural direct flight from  Mashhad to Delhi on November 4, 2016. Mehdi Shiri, Station Manager, Mahan Air, India, informed that to cater demand of Indian passengers for direct flight to Mashhad, this flight has been launched. The aircraft and crew was given warm welcome at IGI Airport, Delhi. H S Duggal, Managing Director, Minar Travels India Pvt. Ltd., GSA for Mahan Air in India was upbeat and mentions, “with lifting of sanctions in Iran, Mahan has extensive plans to connect more Indian cities with Iranian cities to facilitate business and tourism traffic to grow.