Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet have suspended flights to China and Hong Kong.
Speculation is rife that Trump may skip Sabarmati Ashram to make time for a visit to Agra, Vinay Umarji reports.
The new flights come against the backdrop of the Indian government's move to boost air connectivity with Central Asia and tap the interest of Russian investors in India.
A Russian fund submitted its interest to the resolution professional on February 14 and also hired a consultancy firm to help them with the bidding process.
The new service by American Airlines will provide connectivity to tech hubs in both the countries.
Curtailment of flights between India and China will help Air India and other airlines to boost their seat occupancy and market share.
If the current situation prevails, exports to China could fall by 10-15 per cent. Meanwhile, even the prices of cotton, of which Gujarat is one of the leading producers, have taken a hit.
A loss of revenue from liquor sales will have to be compensated through increased landing and parking charges on airlines, which, in turn, will pass on the cost to flyers.
South America-based Synergy Group, one of the suitors, has said slots at London's Heathrow airport are critical to the airline's operations and will decide on participating in the resolution only if it gets clarity. It also wants to form a new company with its assets, employees, and operating permit but minus all liabilities.
With over 700,000 annual passengers and 21 per cent market share Air India is the largest carrier on India-United Kingdom routes.
DGCA has also permitted the airline to deploy newly-inducted planes for capacity expansion.
Improvement in load factors, coupled with an increase in seat capacity after Jet's slots were allotted to low-cost airlines, has resulted in an increase in daily passenger traffic.
Airports levy charges such as FTC, infrastructure charge, and into-plane charges on sale of jet fuel. The levy is passed through to airlines, pushing up costs.
The airline is strengthening its flight operations department to make this happen.
Brent crude oil price surged 4 per cent on Friday, following tension between Iran and the US. Airlines, however, have been unable to pass on the price increase to customers due to the soft demand.
Swarms in about 3,526 hectares of 5,000 hectares under control; farmers burn tyres or dry straw, play loud music and beat steel plates, and use large fans to destroy or drive away the pests, reports Vinay Umarji
Overall gross import of rough diamonds between April to November 2019 has shown a decline of 17.24 per cent to $8.55 billion from $10.34 billion registered during April to November 2018. This is one of sharpest fall in import of diamond in India in last one decade.
Foreign tourists are postponing their India holiday and there have been some cancellations as well, with trips to the North-East seeing the most adverse impact.
Former CEA Arvind Subramanian called for research in the area and urged the NSE Centre for Behavioural Science in Finance, Economics and Marketing to explain why as the economy has been going down, the stock market has been going up.
Air India is seeking government approval to raise a Rs 2,000 crore loan and refinance $819 million aircraft debt, which would help tide over the financial crisis.
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