Mumbai Airport has been named CAPA Asia-Pacific Airport of the Year. This award is given to the airport that has been the biggest standout strategically, established itself as a leader and done the most to advance the progress of the aviation industry. Mumbai Airport, CEO, Rajeev Jain accepted the award from CAPA Executive Director Peter Harbison. Mumbai was selected for the innovative development of T2, which has enabled Mumbai to emerge as one of the leading airports in Asia.

Air Canada’s Dreamliner lands in Delhi

The inaugural non-stop flight from Toronto to New Delhi touched down at Indira Gandhi International Airport and was welcomed by a traditional water cannon shower on Nov 2, 2015. At the bay, passengers were welcomed by His Excellency Nadir Patel, High Commissioner of Canada to India, and a team from Air Canada. Later at the departure terminal, the High Commissioner and members of the Air Canada team were on hand at the check-in counters decorated in Air Canada col-ours to personally welcome passengers for the first flight from New Delhi to Toronto.

0.5% Swacch Bharat Cess from Nov 15

The Government of India has introduced Swachh Bharat Cess of 0.5% on all tax-able services from November 15, 2015. This would mean that along with this 0.5 per cent, the total service tax will become 14.5 per cent. Thus, many services offered by travel agents including air fare, modification of bookings, charges for train and bus bookings, booking hotel accommodations, arranging sightseeing and transfers for clients as well as consultancy fees for working out the itinerary for clients will become expensive.

Oman Air ups frequency on 5 Indian routes

Oman Air is set to boost its operations in India, by increasing frequencies on five of its existing routes. The number of flights operated from Muscat to Goa will rise from six per week to daily, while the routes to Muscat to Bengaluru and Kochi will both double to twice a day. Services to Jaipur will be increased to 10 per week, while Lucknow will rise to 11 weekly flights. With this, Oman Air will have a total of 5,131 more seats on its Indian routes every week. Boeing 737-800 and 737-900 aircraft will be operational for the new services. The expansion will re-sult in a total of 126 weekly Oman Air flights between Muscat and 11 Indian cities.

HOTEL NEWS

133-room Le Meridien opens in Nagpur

Starwood Hotels and Resorts has launched the latest Le Méridien in Nagpur. The 133 rooms and suites of the property have gone under extensive renovation. The hotel’s sprawling grounds include an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness centre and idyllic spa as well as seven event spaces and meeting rooms that cater to many occa-sions, from intimate board meetings to larger social functions.

Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa to open in 2016

The Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa, which will mark Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s seventh hotel in the country is slated to open in 2016. The newly built resort is surrounded by the picturesque Aravali Hills and close to the Holy Lake at Pushkar. The Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa spans 11 acres and features 98 contemporary guestrooms, including 80 luxuri-ously-appointed suites. Among the suites, 20 will offer private pools overlooking the grounds. In addition to signature amenities, including the Westin HeavenlyÒ Bed and the Westin Heav-enlyÒBath, the resort embraces Westin’s innovative programming designed to inspire bal-ance and enhance well-being, leaving guests feeling better than when they first arrived.

Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity open doors

AccorHotels has announced the opening of its upscale Pullman New Delhi Aerocity and the Novotel New Delhi Aerocity. The two hotels, with a combined 670 rooms, were inau-gurated at New Delhi Aerocity.
The opening of Pullman New Delhi Aerocity marks a significant milestone for AccorHotels and is the 100th Pullman to open globally.

48-room Fern Hotel opens in Goa

Concept Hospitality has announced the launch of The Fern Kadamba, Hotel and SPA, Goa. The property is located on Panjim-Old Goa bypass road on Kadamba Plateau, Old Goa, and the hotel is in close proximity to major industrial and business areas. This is the third Concept Hospitality property in the state. With its 48 rooms, The Fern Kadamba, Hotel and SPA, Goa, reflects the unique and proud heritage of Goa with strong, bright tones and art across the hotel.
Currently Concept Hospitality manages over 36 hotels in various locations and has more than 25 projects in the pipeline.

AIRLINES NEWS

Bahrain-Hyderabad daily on Gulf Air

Bahrain’s national carrier—Gulf Air—will add two more weekly flights to its current five-times-a-week schedule starting December 2, 2015. With daily flights between Bahrain and Hydera-bad we are offering enhanced schedule flexibility for our travellers.” The new flights will de-part Manama every Tuesday and Saturday at 1430, and will arrive in Hyderabad at 2100. The return flights will leave at 2200, arriving back in Bahrain at 0010. The other five weekly flights leave Manama at 0255 and take off from Hyderabad at 1025.

Chennai-Bangkok direct on SpiceJet from Dec 10

SpiceJet has started new direct international flights to Bangkok from Chennai, fly-ing six days a week. Flight services on this route will commence from December 10, 2015, and this will be its second direct international flight from Chennai. SpiceJet will be operating to Bangkok’s state-of-the-art Suvarnabhumi airport from Chen-nai, from where numerous onward domestic and international connections are available. The airline will deploy Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft on this route.

Etihad’s first A380 to India begins with Mumbai in 2016

Etihad Airways will operate its Airbus A380 to India for the first time with direct scheduled flights between Abu Dhabi and Mumbai from May 1, 2016. The new route will connect with the carrier’s A380 New York service. The introduction of the superjumbo to India’s commercial capital increases the number of Etihad Airways’ A380 destinations to five, which include Sydney and recently-announced Melbourne to start from June next year. Etihad Airways’ A380 features the only three-room suite in commercial aviation – The Residence by Etihad – as well as nine First Apartments, 70 Business Studios, and 415 Economy Smart Seats. The A380 will operate daily on flight EY204 from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai, and EY203 from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi, both of which will carry the 9W code of Jet Airways, Etihad Airways’ strategic partner.

SpiceJet’s now direct to Dubai from Amritsar

SpiceJet has launched direct flight service from Amritsar to Dubai. “In line with the aviation tradition to mark key mile-stones, SpiceJet’s Boeing 737NG aircraft deployed in this route was greeted with a grand water cannon salute on its arrival from Dubai,” a statement issued by SpiceJet said. Flights in this route will be operated on all days except Saturdays. Dubai is one of SpiceJet’s six international destinations – Dubai, Bangkok, Colombo, Kabul, Male (Maldives), and Muscat. With the launch of these flights, SpiceJet will be serving Dubai direct from 8 Indian cities–Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, Madurai, Amritsar and Kozhikode.

AirAsia X relaunches KL-Delhi flights

AirAsia X will operate four weekly flights on the KL-Delhi route. It will relaunch flights to Delhi in February 2016, 4 years after it suspended its service on this route. Now the Malaysian low-cost carrier has confirmed that it will start operating four weekly direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Delhi on February 3, 2016. Flights will depart KLIA every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sun-day at 1900 hours, arriving in Delhi at 2200 hours. They will leave Delhi at 2315 hours, arriving back in KL at 0730 hours the next morning. The flight time is approximately five and a half hours. Like all other AirAsia X flights, this service will also be operated using a 377-seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft, offering flat-bed seats in business class.