Outbound travel from India to the south east Asian destination of Malaysia is expected to see a dip of 20 to 40 per cent with the Malaysian government cancelling the visa-on- arrival facility for Indian travellers, effective August 1.
Vacationers are showing a preference for areas that are near to their cities and preferably, can be reached by car. The areas in demand are hill stations or beaches four-five hours away from a city. For hotels in the vicinity, this is the right time to rake in the moolah. For instance, room rentals at some of the vacation spots near Mumbai have gone up by as much as 30-150 per cent.
Stringent visa procedures, astronomical hotel rates and a scarcity of event tickets have proved a dampener for Indian visitors to the Beijing Olympics, which began today.
The exclusivity clause for closing the deal between private equity investor WL Ross and SpiceJet that ended on July 31 has been extended because the US-based company is re-negotiating with creditors to write down their debt with the low-cost carrier.
At a time when crude oil prices are softening internationally, domestic carriers are raising fares by as much as 10 per cent to boost yields and cut losses. The new rates will be effective from August 1.
Get ready to be pampered when you fly abroad next time. Stung by the slowdown in the US, international carriers are going all out to woo travellers from countries such as India, which are still registering a double-digit growth in outbound traffic.
Major travel agents have threatened to stop selling domestic and international air tickets until airlines agreed to restore commissions that they had said they would scrap starting October 1, citing higher costs and slower growth.
Three months after joining the budget carrier JetLite, Finnish CEO Maunu von Lueders plans to quit the organization at a time when its parent Jet Airways intends to merge the back-end operations to cut costs.
Although a merger with low-cost carrier SpiceJet would have made the Kingfisher-Deccan combine the largest carrier in Indian skies, it would have put a huge burden on the Vijay Mallya-controlled carrier's financials, feel experts. SpiceJet's losses have almost doubled to Rs 133 crore (Rs 1.33 billion) this year -- of which Rs 123 crore (Rs 1.23 billion) were incurred in the March quarter -- as compared with last year.
His resignation comes at a time when the cash-strapped airline is looking at various ways to get in fresh investment. The airline will either look at a merger with Kingfisher Airlines, which is promoted by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, or a possible infusion from US distress fund Wilbur Ross, which is willing to pump in money.
Global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs has expressed interest in acquiring equity in Delhi-based SpiceJet even as top sources said talks for a merger with Kingfisher Airlines are on track.
The share swap is expected to be in the ratio of 1: 3, where SpiceJet shareholders will get one share of the merged entity for every three SpiceJet shares owned by them.
Faced with heavy losses, budget carrier JetLite has shelved plans to fly abroad. It will also stop 20 of its 131 daily flights within the country and ground three of its 18-strong fleet of Boeing 737s.
Domestic and international airfares are set to rise by 5 per cent beginning October as the travel agents prepare ground to recover 5 per cent commission on the base fare: Amount parted to them by airlines for booking tickets on their distribution systems from consumers.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is reducing its forecast of the Indian market by half beyond 2012 as a result of the slowdown in the aviation sector.
Faced with the prospect of $1.5 billion losses owing to a slowdown in passenger traffic and high aviation turbine fuel (ATF) costs, airline companies are cancelling or cutting deliveries of new aircraft due this year or sub-leasing them to other carriers globally.
Cites high valuations as reason for exit.
While Swissport, an European infrastructure and service corporation providing value-added airport services at 187 airports across 43 countries, is going with India's Punj Lloyd group, Menzies is partnering Cambata Aviation for the bid. Cambata has been providing airport services at the Mumbai airport since 1967. Turkey's Celebi Ground Handling is reportedly teaming up with Spencer Travels as overseas bidders.
No more lavish meal choices, no pampered check-ins and fewer options in flight timings. Call it Plan B or an effort by the airlines in India to cope with the crisis caused by soaring aircraft turbine fuel prices.
Air fares are set to go up again, with the government announcing an over 18 per cent average increase in the prices of aviation turbine fuel, effective Saturday midnight.
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