Enforcement Directorate officials said on Friday they are probing a 'complex network' of agents and facilitators in India, Canada and the US who help Indians illegally enter the US via 'bogus' admissions in Canadian colleges.
The Travel Agents Federation of India has threatened to stop selling tickets of major European airlines from June 26 if the second round of talks with them on June 22 to discuss the issue of slash in the agents' ticket commission fail.
Want last year's bonus? Sell our tickets: Jet Airways tells travel agents.
According to court documents, Shivam directed smuggling operations from January through June 2025, coordinating the illegal transport of individuals across the US-Canada border into Clinton County, New York.
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.
In his order last week, Civil Aviation Secretary K N Srivastava ruled the meanings of transaction fee, commission or convenience fee were the same -- payment of remuneration to an intermediary.
Taking a serious note of the situation, the civil aviation ministry said it has invoked regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes.
DGCA provided temporary relief to IndiGo, which is partially owned by Rahul Bhatia, by rolling back the night duty definition to 12 am-5 am from 12 am-6 am earlier, and allowing its pilots to do six night-landings from two earlier, besides other relaxations.
Many travellers are now opting for domestic destinations like Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh, and the North East.
If you are a frequent traveller and use the services of a travel agent, your bill is likely to see a rise this summer, provided travel agents have their way.
The advisory was issued by the Indian embassy in Ankara on Tuesday against the backdrop of strained India-Turkey relations and Turkey's offensive against Kurdish rebels in Syria.
The travel ban will come into effect from 11.59 pm on Saturday, April 24, and is subject to review after 10 days.
Move aimed at forcing airlines to revoke decision to withdraw 5 per cent commission.
Many travel companies said customers are waiting and watching. "People are holding on to see if better deals come their way. So although advanced bookings are down, we might see people booking during the summer months themselves," said Richa Goel Sikri, director of Delhi-based STIC Travels.
Neeraj Chopra spoke a bit about his hopes from the next season, his love for all things Swiss and the eager traveller in him who doesn't mind giving in to occasionally unplanned wanderlust.
'We used to get 400-500 applications for Canada on a yearly basis until last year, but this has gone down to just 70 this year.'
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, is facing deportation after US authorities accused him of "spreading Hamas propaganda" and having "close connections to a suspected terrorist." The Department of Homeland Security claims Suri has been actively promoting antisemitism on social media and is connected to a senior Hamas advisor. Suri's lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, argues that his client is being targeted due to his wife's Palestinian heritage and their opposition to US foreign policy towards Israel. The incident follows the self-deportation of another Indian student from Columbia University who was also accused of supporting Hamas.
Data for the first nine days of January shows that tourist arrivals from India to the Maldives has been at similar levels as last year during the same period.
'Countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines have a 50 per cent increase in bookings.'
Passenger traffic to Lakshadweep more than doubled from April to June this year.
Full-service carriers Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India have told travel agents that they will not levy the transaction fee on air tickets from November 25. This means tickets will be Rs 350 to Rs 10,000 cheaper of bought from the airline office or website. In all, 16 carriers have shifted to the zero-commission mode. The decision of the airlines might leave 1 million people employed with over 2,000 IATA affiliated travel agencies without jobs.
Just over a three-hour flight from Delhi, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia have seen a big jump in visitors.
A court in Canada has ordered the seizure of amounts collected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on behalf of Air India and the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Separate orders were passed on November 24 and December 21 on pleas by shareholders of Devas Multimedia Private Limited who have filed multiple petitions to enforce arbitration awards against the Indian government. According to a Devas spokesperson, more than $30 million has been seized to date under the IATA action.
International airlines are offering affected passengers an option of refund, vouchers, discounts on future bookings, and the opportunity to hold tickets for up to two years following travel bans.
Miffed hotels, restaurants stare at huge losses on account of advance planning for events that they now have to shelve.
The diplomatic rift between India and Maldives, coupled with the suspension of flight bookings on one of India's major travel portals, has sent jitters down the spine of tour operators in the island nation. The Maldivian Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO), a forum for travel agents, has stressed that the Indian market is important to the success of tourism in Maldives.
According to federal government officials, Wahida, a resident of Nagaon district in Assam, was arrested along with her son while illegally entering Pakistan from Afghanistan via the Chaman border last year.
Evidence should have been shared first, but someone decided to stand in the Parliament and talk about a thing for which he himself has said there was 'no hard evidence'
In his petition, Suri's lawyer said that he is being punished as his wife, who is a US citizen, is of Palestinian heritage and because the government suspects that he and his wife are against the US foreign policy towards Israel.
"The (number of ) people flying business class has seen a decline of over 40 per cent in the domestic routes and 20 per cent internationally," said Ajay Prakash, general secretary, Travel Agents Federation of India.
The travel agents have demanded refunds for customers
Air India on Thursday increased the fuel surcharge component in fares on several routes.
Ticket refunds remain a challenge, though Jet claims the amount would be credited in 7 to 10 working days after the request is processed.
The sudden massive cancellations of Jet have put travel agents and customers in jeopardy
Hotel room tariff in Ahmedabad, airfares shoot up ahead of India-Australia final
Patel is on the FBI's list of 'Ten Most Wanted Fugitives' and the federal agency announced a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to his arrest.
The AFI official said that Air India refused to carry three poles measuring 5m each to be used by the two athletes, on the ground of some "technical issues" concerning prescribed length of the items.
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