Kingfisher fights to fly
MUMBAI, 15 November 2011: The board of India’s struggling Kingfisher Airlines met Monday to look for ways to slash the company’s debt and keep the country’s second-largest carrier flying.
Members are considering a sale of property to raise funds for the airline, headed by billionaire liquor baron Vijay Mallya, a banker said, while a company spokesman declined to comment.
The loss-making airline, India’s second-biggest by market share, has cancelled more than 200 flights in the past week, raising fears it could go bankrupt.
India’s religious tourism takes off
November 9, 2011 by Imtiaz Muqbil
Filed under Blogs
Bodhgaya/Lumbini, 9 November 2011 – Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Thailand and worldwide are flocking to the holy sites in North India and Nepal in what is becoming one of the travel industry’s biggest growth sectors; religious tourism.
The numbers are growing in line with significant improvements being made in infrastructure as well as the quality of supporting travel and transportation arrangements. Roads, airports and railway services are being upgraded.
Kingfisher falls on hard times
BANGALORE, 29 September 2011 – Struggling Indian airline Kingfisher said Wednesday it planned to cut its low-cost service and announced measures to preserve capital and raise cash.
Kingfisher Airlines started up in 2005 as a full-service airline and two years later bought a budget carrier, Air Deccan,that it renamed Kingfisher Red to compete with rival no-frill Indian operators.
“We are doing away with Kingfisher Red (low-cost operations). We don’t intend to compete in the low-cost segment,” Kingfisher founder and liquor baron Vijay Mallya told a news conference in the southern city of Bangalore. Read more
Train collision in South India
CHENNAI, 14 September 2011 – At least seven people were killed and more than 80 injured when two passenger trains collided in southern India on Tuesday, police and railway officials said.
The accident occurred around 75 km (45 miles) from the port city of Chennai around 0930 when one train slammed into the back of another that was standing stationary at a signal point.
Three carriages were derailed in the impact.
“We have confirmation of seven dead so far,” said police Inspector General Syleendra Babu. More than 80 people were reported injured, some of them seriously. Read more
Passengers leap for their lives
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 30 August 2011 – Terrified passengers jumped out of a plane in India, Monday, after it skidded to halt on landing, trying to escape before emergency ladders were put in place, officials said.
Seven passengers were injured in the pre-dawn incident when the Gulf Air flight from Bahrain to Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala landed badly in wet weather conditions and veered onto muddy grassland.
“The Bahrain-Kochi Airbus 320 shot 10 metres (30 feet) off the runway. Some passengers in panic jumped out of the emergency exit before the ladders were brought,” A.C.K. Nair, Kochi Airport director, told AFP. Read more
India’s tea country gains autonomy
KOLKATA, 19 July 2011 – India signed an “historic” deal on Monday granting autonomy to an ethnic group in the Himalayan tea-growing area of Darjeeling that has fought for decades for a homeland.
The agreement between the federal government, the state of West Bengal in India’s east and a political group leading the Gorkha protesters was sealed in the scenic village of Pintail, about 600 km (380 miles) from Kolkata.
Indian Gorkhas, who are ethnic Nepalese, have led a violent campaign since the 1980s demanding that the separate state of Gorkhaland be carved out of West Bengal’s mountainous district of Darjeeling.
Nepal’s appeal low in Thai market
June 30, 2011 by Paphada Apimonton
Filed under News, Tour Operators
BANGKOK, 30 June 2011 – Nepal is a difficult to sell as a single destination for Thai outbound travellers, travel agents told TTR Weekly earlier this week.
Commenting on Nepal’s Visit Year 2011, promotional road show that swung through Southeast Asia earlier in the month, Bangkok-based travel agents said it was almost an impossible task to promote the country as a single destination in the Thai market.
Travellers prefer a combined tour that includes India and focuses on the Buddhist heritage trail, tracing the life of the Lord Buddha at sites in northern India and southern Nepal. Read more
India strengthens links with ASEAN
March 3, 2011 by AFP
Filed under News, South Asia
NEW DELHI, 3 March 2011 – India and the 10-nation ASEAN bloc aim to increase trade 40% by 2012 on the back of a free trade pact and push for deeper economic integration, an New Delhi said on Wednesday.
Asia’s third-largest economy has long courted its eastern neighbours under its “Look East” policy, hoping for increased commerce and investment with the ASEAN zone of nearly 600 million people.
India is already a strong business partner with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand but is keen to expand its presence in Indonesia and Vietnam. Tourism is a strong component in trade talks due to India transformation into a major supply market for ASEAN destinations.
Khiri opens new BKK branch
February 16, 2011 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News, Tour Operators
BANGKOK, 16 February 2011 – Khiri Asia has opened an office in downtown Bangkok to sell Mekong region travel options to Asian visitors, especially from the Indian market.
The new office is located in Charn Issara II Tower in Petchburi Road with a staff of three who are initially handling meetings and incentive groups from India.
According to Khiri Asia CEO, Ashok Kapur, there has been a surge in travel to Bangkok from India driven by an “abundance of direct flights to the Thai capital from major cities in north and south India” and easier visa-on-arrivals rules.
Mumbai gains green light for new airport
November 23, 2010 by AFP
Filed under Aviation, South Asia
NEW DELHI, 23 November 2010 – India gave a green light on Monday for the construction of a second international airport in the commercial capital Mumbai which had been blocked for a decade.
“Today, formally the environmental clearance has been given to the Navi Mumbai Project,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told a press conference in New Delhi.
