SpiceJet to Start Flights Connecting Delhi and Riyadh

Flyers looking for a connection between India’s thriving capital, Delhi and Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh will now be able to grab cheap travel deals with SpiceJet.   

Revealed by various online media sources, India’s popular no frills carrier, SpiceJet is now offering tickets deals on its newest daily direct flights services on Delhi- Riyadh route from January 4, 2013. 

The airline is expected to deploy its sleek 189-seater Boeing 737 NG aircraft to offer tickets for its new flights between India’s capital and the largest city of Saudi Arabia. The development is sure to tempt increasingly higher number of budget passengers who are often to be seen in a look out for cheap flights tickets on the route.

Besides Riyadh, the airline is also offering tickets on direct flights connecting India and Guangzhou in China with effect from February 8, 2013. Including these two services, the airline sells tickets for seven international destinations in its network from India. Presently, the carrier operates only to Kathmandu, Colombo, Kabul, Dubai and Male.

In a recent development, the airline had announced its plans to launch new services on three new international routes, Kochi-Male, Kochi-Dubai and Ahmadabad-Dubai. Out of which, the airline has already launched its flights connecting South India’s city of Kochi to Male and Dubai on November 29 and December 10, 2012, respectively. It is all geared to kick start its new route connecting Ahmadabad and Dubai from December 19, 2012.

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Indian Carriers’ International Services to Spiral Up By Oct 2013

Good news is in the offing for business travellers who regularly seek flights tickets for an India travel and also for those leisure vacationers who are looking forward to book tickets on flights to the country for a holiday tour around the end of the next year. Media reports have informed that by October 2013, Indian carriers will witness the number of international services rise up to 1,695 a week from 1,074, clocking a growth of well over 50 percent. 

This follows Government of India’s consent for allowing domestic operators in the country to not only fly on some new global routes but also authorising the airlines to boost their frequency of flights to international destinations. Increased flights service is surely going to benefit passengers who seek flexible alternatives when it comes to booking tickets for inbound and outbound India travel. Even cheap flights tickets may also be in store with the rise in the number of traffic rights. 

From the 2013 Summer Schedule, India’s flag carrier, Air India has been allowed to operate daily flights from Delhi to Rome-Madrid-Barcelona and Moscow, while from the Winter Schedule 2013, the airline will run services between Mumbai and Nairobi. Other airlines in India would also be able to fly to new routes as authorities in the country have given permission to operate flights to Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Sydney, Melbourne, Nairobi, Al Najaf (Iraq), Moscow, Zurich, Macau, Tashkent and Ho Chi Minh City.

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Passengers to India Can Soon Buy Tickets on A380 Flights

India bound foreign travellers who miss the ‘massive’ appeal of the world’s largest passenger airplane, the Airbus A380, after grabbing their flights tickets to the country would soon be able to realise their fantasy! The Indian government, that was hitherto not willing to allow foreign operators to bring in ultra long-haul aircraft into the country, has shown signs of flexibility.

If reports doing the rounds in Indian media circles are to be believed then the authorities in the country may very well agree to the operations of carriers who wish to offer flights tickets on the Airbus A380 to India.

Keeping in mind the interests of domestic carriers, India had previously restricted international airlines from flying these big planes into the country.

Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Dubai-based Emirates are the evident beneficiaries as both have been waiting for the nod from the concerned authorities to fly A380s to India, for some time now. Lufthansa and Emirates already operate multiple flights services to India, offering air tickets for several major cities in the nation.

The news has brought cheer to aviation industry with experts hoping the move will help airlines push up their profits as cost per seat plummets down. More number of seats in a single plane on India bound flights will mean more savings on fuel costs.

Whether the carriers pass on the benefits to the flyers in the form of cheap air tickets on flights to the destination remains to be seen. However, increased number of seats on flights may also result in lesser frequency of services, restricting the flexibility of flyers looking for cheap air tickets.

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Rise in Number of Foreigners Taking India Flights in September

Figures released by Government of India indicate that there has been a rise in the number of foreign tourists grabbing tickets on flights to different parts of India. In September 2012, approximately 0.42 million foreign tourists made bookings for air tickets on flights bound to India. In the same period in 2011, approximately 0.40 million foreigners had booked flights tickets to the country. This has resulted in a growth of 3.2 per cent for Sep 2012 over Sep 2011.

If one talks about the year so far, as many as 4.63 mn foreign vacationers took India bound flights tickets during January-September as compared to 4.37 mn who bought air tickets on flights in the year 2011 in the same period, resulting in a growth of 5.9 per cent.

Tourism Ministry of the country seems buoyed with the news and hopes to push foreign tourist arrivals in India to 12 million by 2016-17.

Rise in tourist inflow from different countries of the world has directly impacted the country’s foreign exchange. In September, forex were INR 6,652 crore (USD 1265.50 mn approx) as against to INR 5,748 crore (USD 1093 mn approx) in 2011, which is a rise of 15.7 per cent, as revealed by ministry data.

India remains a highly popular holiday destination with heaps of foreigners vying to get their hands around cheap tickets on flights to the nation. September is the start of peak tourist season in the country when summer heat and wet rainy season makes way for pleasant autumn weather.

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More Airlines to Begin India Flights Connecting to Kolkata

Foreign tourists taking flights to India connecting Kolkata have a reason to smile as four foreign carriers are likely to begin flight services to this Indian city. 

Turkish Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Flydubai and Xiamen Airlines are in talks with Civil Aviation Ministry of India and are trying to negotiate for flight services to the new airport in Kolkata.

Malaysia Airlines started flights to Kolkata in 2005-06 but drew back its services owing to route restructuring programme. Besides, Turkish Airlines, the national carrier of Turkey, Xiaman, the first private-owned operator of China and Flydubai, the low cost air carrier of Dubai, are keen on beginning flights to one of the largest metropolises of India.

Foreign travellers have myriads of flight options as many carriers, including international as well as operators in India, are already offering flights to the Indian city.

Recently, Qatar Airways and Silk Air commenced Kolkata-bound India flights. On the other hand, Dragon Air, the subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, is another carrier that will start flights from the India metropolis to Hong Kong from November.

Travellers from Gulf, tourists from UK, rest of the Europe and Far East are likely to benefit from the development. They will be able to choose from a plethora of connecting flights for a seamless connectivity to India and that too at extremely reasonable prices.

All the four international carriers have already surveyed the traffic potential and are confident of high load factor.

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More Foreign Tourists Opting for India’s Visa on Arrival

A good number of foreign travellers taking flights to India are now opting for the Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme for tourism purposes. The country reported an impressive growth of 90.2 percent in the count of global vacationers availing the facility in August 2012.

In August 2012, a total number of 1750 tourists took advantage of VoAs as compared to 920 VoAs during the month in 2011.

The period of January-August 2012 also saw a rise of 25.3 percent as compared to the same period in 2011. 7,514 VoA were issued to foreign tourists travelling on flights to various destinations in India in 2011, whereas the figure rose to 9412 in 2012. 

India airports ranking for the numbers of Visa on Arrival issued include Delhi on top with 5489, followed by Mumbai with 1981 while 1365 foreign holidaymakers booked flights to Chennai.

Japanese citizens who took flights to the different cities of the country were issued the maximum number of VoAs in the month of August, followed by Philippines and Indonesia.

In a bid to lure more global vacationers to take flights, the Government of India introduced the Visa on Arrival scheme in January 2010. Initially it was offered to nationals of 5 countries - Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting for tourism purposes. In January 2011, it was extended to tourists from Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar.

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India Might Extend Visa-on-Arrival to 10 More Nations

India may very soon offer tourist Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) to nationals of 10 more countries taking flights to the country. The tourism authorities are in the final stages of meetings and consultations to offer tourist VoA to the nations.

It is a common belief that T-VoA adds to the tourism industry of the country offering it as more vacationers get attracted in booking flights. Since the introduction of this service to 11 nations, India has become increasingly popular destination among thousands taking flights to India from these regions.

Indeed, favourable visa on arrival policies for more foreign nationals may spell a boost in the number for foreign holidaymakers on flights to the nation. In fact, it may very well assist Indian Government to realise its target of increasing the international tourist footfall manifold by 2016.

Germany, France and Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) could be among the 10 nations that could be provided VoA facility.

As of now, nationals of 11 countries on India bound flights can enjoy visa on arrival facilities. These countries include Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar, Finland, Luxembourg and New Zealand.

T-VoA is issued for up to 30 days and is restricted for recreation, sightseeing or meeting friends in the country. Also, foreign nationals on India bound flights who choose to get this facility must have a passport with minimum six-month validity and must not have a residence or occupation in the nation.

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Air Travel With Indian Carriers Get Pricier

International flyers looking to book flights to India with carriers based in India will be required to shell out more. India’s national airline, Air India has decided to jack up fuel surcharge on both domestic and international flight operations. The decision has come following the 7.6% hike in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices. Other carriers based in India have followed suit or expected to do so.

Last week, Air India hiked the surcharge for international flights by USD15 (Rs 840) for a one-way ticket and by USD30 (Rs 1,680) for return tickets. For domestic flights operations, the surcharge has been increased by INR150 for flights of upto 1,000 km and by INR250 on longer domestic flights.

Jet Airways, one of India’s largest airlines and its subsidiary JetKonnect have also increased the fuel surcharge on all domestic flights, said a company statement. On most international flights taking off from India, a one-way surcharge of $15 will also be levied. Some international routes would be exempted from the fuel surcharge but it wasn’t made clear which ones.

SpiceJet, a leading budget carrier in India known for offering cheap flight deals, has also put it across that the airline is in no condition to absorb the recent hike in ATF costs and it has to pass on the burden to the flyers.

Indian carriers have been demanding reduction in tariffs and have even got permission from the government to import ATF directly.

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India tourism 'benefitting' from Commonwealth Games

India is set to see a boom in visitor numbers following the success of the Commonwealth Games, claims the secretary of India's tourism ministry.

RH Khwaja explained the Indian tourism sector will experience a rise in demand in coming years as the sporting event has helped to boost the country's international profile and could lead to more travellers taking flights to India.

"India today is emerging as a major economy of the world with growth rate of more than eight per cent per annum. The tourism industry in India is set to grow at an even higher pace," said Mr Khwaja, according to PTI.

The number of foreign tourists arriving in October increased by nine per cent compared to 2009's levels. It is thought that figures from the tourism ministry show the Commonwealth Games was responsible for around five per cent of the visitors during last month.

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Games will boost India's appeal

India's decision to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games will help boost the international profile of the country, claims a holiday tour firm.

Annonline.com believes that the event will enable the local tourist industry to develop a brand image for the country and therefore increase the number of holidaymakers opting to take flights to Mumbai and other Indian cities.

Charles Glanville from Annonline.com explained the Commonwealth Games has led to the firm developing new tours to take in the key sporting venues. He also explained that the Games have encouraged greater investment in restoration work on the country's historic attractions.

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India sees boost in online travel market

There has been a growth in the use of India's online travel resources, claims a new report. According to Netscribes, the online travel market in India has developed significantly in recent times and is now attracting both domestic and international holidaymakers.

Those planning a cheap flight to India may benefit from this surge in internet travel resources as it could enable them to book a whole range of accommodation or even train tickets before they jet off.

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Holidaymaker numbers to India on the rise

More people are taking holidays to India compared with last year, according to a new report.

The latest World Tourism Barometer from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) shows that tourist arrivals in India registered a double-digit increase in the first two months of 2010 over the same time last year.

Asia and Pacific destinations in general saw the highest growth compared with other global regions during this timeframe.

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Travellers 'need to visit India more than once'

There is too much to see and do in India for holidaymakers to take it all in on a single trip, one travel expert has stated.

Louise Newton, PR and marketing manager at Somak Holidays, commented that "one visit simply isn't enough". People who are booking flights to India for their first trip will often head to the Golden Triangle region, which includes Delhi, Jaipur and Agra.

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India receives tourism award

People who have booked flights to India may be interested to know that the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has honoured its members in the country.

Members of the PATA chapter in India were given the Spirit of PATA award for 2010 following the way in which tourism operators in the country coped in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attack in 2008. According to PATA, those working in the industry demonstrated "incredible determination and resolve" following the incident almost two years ago.

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