Category Archives: Aviation

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met with Jyotiraditya Scindia, Civil Aviation Minister, representatives from travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors to discuss various banking-related issues. Travel, tourism and hospitality sectors are among the worst hit due to the COVID pandemic. The industry leaders from these sectors have been pitching for financial support from the government.

Standard Chartered announced it has partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to launch IATA Pay in India. IATA Pay, which is already available in several European markets, is an airline industry payment platform that brings optionality, convenience and an enhanced experience to consumers when purchasing tickets directly from participating airlines. The service leverages the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), a domestic real-time payments scheme in India, thereby enabling consumers to instantly pay for airline tickets from their bank accounts. 

Pradeep Panicker, Chief Executive Officer, GMR Hyderabad International Airport, has revealed that the new terminal of the airport will be ready by next year and will take the capacity from 12million to 40 million. He was speaking at a special meet organised between Sr delegates of GMR Hyderabad and the tourism committee of FTCCI to discuss tourism opportunities in the state.

To provide further updates on the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Singapore and India & Sri Lanka, Singapore Tourism Board will be organising another round of webinar exclusively for the Indian & Sri Lankan travel trade. The ‘Welcome Back to Singapore’ webinar will be held on Monday, February 28 at 11:30am IST/SLST. The virtual session will also touch on Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight operations and the customer experience at Changi Airport and Jewel Changi Airport. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532

In a shocking discrimination against IATA agents based in India, Air India has restricted sale of tickets from India to Canada to its city offices and web platform. IATA agents based here cannot issue India-Canada tickets, while travel agents worldwide, including the OTA’s having offices outside India, can access and sell AI inventory to Canada. Lodging a protest with Air India in this regard, AI has been practicing this since the onset of the pandemic. Abbas Moiz, general secretary, TAFI, said it is disappointing to see this discrimination by the new management, the TATA Group, too.

As per GlobalData, there were 73 deals declared in the global travel and tourism sector in January 2022, a decrease of 27% from the 100 deals announced in December 2021. Deal activity decreased across the board (under coverage). Deal activity was sluggish in most of the key markets.

The country’s largest airport operator Adani Group has reported a profit (before interest and taxes) of ₹22.96 crore for its airport businesses during the quarter ending on 31 December, compared to a ₹48.95 crore loss during the same period of the previous year, on the back of a recovery in air passenger traffic in the quarter. Adani Group operates seven airports, which includes airports at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangalore, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram. The upcoming airport at Navi Mumbai will also be operated by the conglomerate.

Sharing a broad strategy for the new airline, Ilker Ayci, the newly-appointed CEO and MD of Air India said, “Working closely with my colleagues at Air India and the leadership of the Tata Group, we will utilise the strong heritage of Air India to make it one of the best airlines in the world with a uniquely superior flying experience that reflects the Indian warmth and hospitality.” He takes over from 1 April, 2022.

World’s First Parallel Airline Company ‘WINAIR’ has just been formed in India. A parallel airline is a new concept that means utilising an existing operator who has equipment (Aircraft, NOC, NSOP) and an operating permit. In short, the aircraft are leased utilising their license and viable routes are planned. In other words, it is just like utilising the idle hours of the existing airlines. This is the first time in the world that such a module is being framed by an Indian. Samuel Timothy, Chairman & Managing Director, Winair Aviation, says, “The term ‘WINAIR’ means We Indian Nationals. The Indian aviation story is all set to undergo a huge change in the coming year and the markets are going to grow faster than they were ever before. The growing number of airports, the increasing per capita income, and the fierce competition resulting in one of the lowest ticket prices globally has boosted the number of people traveling by air.”

Tata Sons have announced that Ilker Ayci has been appointed the CEO & MD of Air India. The Air India board met this afternoon to consider the candidature of Ilker Ayci and N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, was a special invitee to the meeting. The board approved the appointment after due deliberations. Before taking up this role, Ilker Ayci, was the Chairman of the Turkish Airlines and he was on the board of the company prior to that. Ayci will assume his responsibilities on or before 1st April 2022.