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Enjoy scenic views while travelling! Indian Railways to attach Vista Dome coach

Vista Dome coach in Mumbai Central – Gandhinagar Capital Shatabdi Express: Indian Railways has decided to introduce a new Vista Dome coach! In a bid to offer an enhanced travelling experience to the esteemed passengers, the Western Railway zone has decided to attach one Vista Dome coach in Train Number 12009/12010 Mumbai Central – Gandhinagar Capital Shatabdi Express. However, this is being done o­n a temporary basis with effect from 11 April 2022. According to a press release issued by Western Railways, Train Number 12009/12010 Mumbai Central – Gandhinagar Capital Shatabdi Express has been augmented with a Vista Dome coach starting from 11 April to 10 May 2022. The new Vistadome coach of Mumbai Central – Gandhinagar Capital Shatabdi Express has various interesting features including glass roofs, large glass windows, rotating seats, as well as an observation lounge, so travelling passengers can witness breath-taking glimpses of the outside. According to Western Railways, for the purpose of reservation in Vista Dome coach in Shatabdi Express, new Train Number 02009/02010 will be applicable i.e for passengers booking the Vista Dome coach, it will be available as Train Number 02009/02010 and will be open from 9 April 2022 at PRS counters as well as official IRCTC website. The seating capacity of the Vistadome coach is of 44 passengers. According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha earlier this year, 45 trains over Zonal Railways are being operated with Vista Dome coaches which includes Train Number 11007/08, 12051/52, 12123/24 in Central Railways, Train Number 18551/52 in East Coast Railway, Train Number 15777/78, 15887/88, 15907/08, 52593/95/98/44, 52541, 52540, 52556 (Darjeeling Himalayan Railway) in Northeast Frontier Railway, Train Number 20947/48, 20949/50, 52965/66, 09501/02, 09071/72 in Western Railway, Train Number 16539/40, 16515/16, 16575/76, 16579/80 in South Western Railway, Train Number 52453/54, 52459/60 in Northern Railway, Train Number 05319/20 ain North Eastern Railway.

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Jet Airways coming back with premium and no frills hybrid model

Jet Airways India Ltd., which is undergoing a court-monitored restructuring, plans to return with a hybrid of premium and no-frills services that would allow the former top local airline to claw back market share while managing costs in the fiercely competitive Indian aviation market. The bankrupt airline, now helmed by a new set of owners, will have a two-class configuration where business class passengers will be offered services including free meals, its new chief executive officer Sanjiv Kapoor said in an interview near New Delhi on Wednesday. The economy class will, however, be modelled afer low cost carriers where passengers will have for food services, he said. “It’s very difficult in the domestic Indian market to take on the cost of the food and everything else in economy class, where the customer in India chooses primarily on the basis of fares,” said Kapoor, an aviation veteran who took charge of the defunct airline this week. “Let’s just accept that and let’s not burden ourselves with extra cost.” A successful revival of Jet Airways, which collapsed under a pile of debt in 2019 and became the first airline to enter a reformed insolvency resolution process, will be a landmark moment for India’s bankruptcy laws. The new owners -- Dubai-based, Indian-origin businessman Murari Lal Jalan and Florian Fritsch, the chairman of London-based financial advisory and alternative asset manager Kalrock Capital Management Ltd. - have pledged to make investments of as much as $120 million, Kapoor said. Kapoor himself is not new to navigating carriers through turbulent skies. He spearheaded SpiceJet Ltd. as its chief operating officer in 2014, helming it through a time when the low-cost carrier was severely cash strapped. He was also the chief strategy and commercial officer for Tata Group-led airline, Vistara.

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6,828 passengers availed special air services in Ladakh during last winter

The civil aviation department of Ladakh airlifted 6,828 passengers between the union territory and Jammu and Srinagar during the last winter, officials said on Wednesday. Of them, 4,468 were ferried by AN-32 planes and 2,360 by helicopters. "During the winter of 2021-22, a total of 4,468 passengers were airlifted in around 90 sorties by AN-32. The AN-32 services are operated in Jammu Kargil and Srinagar-Kargil sectors," an official of the civil aviation department said. Every year the union territory administration presses that Indian Air Force's AN-32 into operation during the winter months, he said. A total of 2,360 passengers availed the subsidised helicopter service of the administration. The administration operates two choppers. During the financial year, helicopter facility was provided to evacuate people in 53 medical emergency cases. Medical evacuations of the poor are carried out free of cost, officials said

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Indore airport sees 86 pc jump in passenger traffic in 2021-22

Passenger traffic at Indore's Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport registered a healthy growth of 86 per cent in the financial year 2021-22 compared to the previous year. According to airport sources nearly 16.63 lakh flyers used the airport which is a promising improvement over 8.96 lakh flyers who used the airport in 2020-21. The drop in Covid-19 cases, relaxation in travel restrictions and launch of new services have helped the airport register this growth, an official said on Thursday. In FY 2020-21, the year of coronavirus outbreak and strict lockdown, the number of passengers travelling from the international airport had nosedived to 8.96 lakh. The fourth quarter (January-March 2022) of the last fiscal saw a smart pick up in passenger traffic as the third coronavirus wave ebbed and new services were launched from the city, the commercial hub of Madhya Pradesh, he said. However, official data indicate it will take sometime for the passenger traffic to reach pre-COVID-19 levels. In fiscal 2019-20, a total of 29.06 lakh passengers had travelled from the Indore airport, while this figure was 31.36 lakh in 2018-19, the official said, citing official data. Ramesh Kumar, Director, Indore Airport said that at present 70 flights are operating daily from the city. After a significant drop in coronavirus cases and easing of curbs, people are again getting attracted towards air travel and in the days to come new flights will be launched from Indore to cities like Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam, Kumar said. The Indore airport is not just the busiest in Madhya Pradesh, but also the only international aerodrome in the state.

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Travel insurance demand up as skies open

Travel insurance demand is seeing a surge after international commercial flights resumed normal operations on March 27. A larger proportion of international travellers are buying insurance now as compared to prepandemic levels. The boom in travel insurance bookings has enthused insurers, who are looking at strong growth, two years after Covid hit the overseas travel insurance vertical due to lockdowns and international travel restrictions. The US, Canada, the UK, the UAE and Schengen countries have emerged as the top destinations for Indians travelling for leisure, corporate and education. Online insurance platform Policybazaar said there is a 25 per cent increase in bookings in the week starting from March 27 as compared to the previous week. This number is expected to grow in the coming months when air ticket prices stabilise and holiday season kicks in. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance anticipates the travel insurance penetration will go past 35 per cent, in terms of insurance taken to the total number of travellers, from around 18 per cent in the pre-pandemic period. ICICI Lombard General Insurance sees increased demand for travel insurance in leisure and business segments, with the leisure segment witnessing a boom due to revenge travel. Policybazaar has already seen a jump of 40 per cent in terms of bookings for overseas travel insurance between March and February this year. The overseas travel insurance growth has doubled for both Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and ICICI Lombard General Insurance compared to the previous year. “We anticipate this de- mand would go up even further by another 1. 5x in the April-June quarter,” Sourabh Chatterjee, head (IT, web sales & travel), Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, told TOI. Amit Chhabra, head (he- alth & travel insurance), Policybazaar, said that travel insurance policies cover flight cancellation and delays, apart from health issues. But tourism sector experts have a word of caution for travel insurance postCovid. Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman & CEO, Fairfest Media, said that foreign countries have just started opening up for tourism. So, it is important for every traveller to do due diligence and take an overseas travel policy that covers this risk (quarantine) also, he added. Subramanyam Brahmajosyula, head (reinsurance & product development), SBI General Insurance, said that there is a heightened need for travellers to safeguard themselves against any unforeseen circumstances now.

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UK, Ireland & Austria visa application centres in Mumbai to resume operations

For the convenience of visa applicants in Maharashtra, Global visa, and consular service provider VFS Global has announced that it will resume operations at its UK, Ireland, and Austria visa application centres in Mumbai from April 11. The service was affected due to Covid-19 condition and restrictions in the city. Sharing details, VFS Global said that its VACs in Mumbai North (Bandra Kurla Complex) will resume operations for visa and consular services for applicants and travellers based in Mumbai, Maharasthra. VFS Global is an official partner of UK visas and immigration. The company also announced that it will be resuming its Austria Visa Application Centre in Pune from April 11. In a tweet sharing the update for Austria visa applicants, VFS said the centre will operate Monday to Friday from 9 am to 1 pm. For Switzerland visa applicants in India, VFS had shared another key update related to appointments and biometric data. “As per the latest directives from the Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi, it is mandatory for all Switzerland visa applicants (12 years and above) to visit our nearest Visa Application Centre for registering their biometrics across effective April 4,” VFS Global said. It further added that the applicant has to be physically present at the centre to submit the application and do the biometric, even if they have already given biometric during a previous visa application. The company has been gradually resuming visa and service operations across the country with dip in the Covid-19 cases across the country. With 3531 Visa Application Centres (VACs), operations in 141 countries across five continents, VFS Global has processed over 238 million applications (since inception in 2001) as on 28 February 2022.

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