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India now world's third largest domestic aviation market: Scindia

Civil Aviation, Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday that India has become the third largest domestic aviation market in the world. Speaking at a curtain raiser event on Wings India, 2022, Scindia said that India presently handles the third largest domestic traffic after the US and China. "We all know that in this densely globalised economy, air transport is a key element in the country's transport infrastructure and plays an important role in the country's economic growth," he said. The Minister said that the overall freight handled by the country's airports during the first two quarters of FY22 (combined) has recovered to more than 80 per cent (15.36 lakh MT during April-September FY22) of the prepandemic level, despite the country being hit by a severe second wave in the first quarter. The Wings India, 2022, to be held in Hyderabad, is slated to be Asia's largest event on civil aviation.

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110 nations have agreed to mutual recognition of Covid vax certificates with India: Sources

So far 110 countries have agreed to mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certificates with India, official sources said on Thursday. The Union government continues to be in communication with the rest of the world so that beneficiaries of the world's largest Covid-19 vaccination program are accepted and recognised, thereby easing travel for education, business and tourism purposes. At present, 110 countries have agreed to mutual recognition of vaccination certificates and also those who recognise Indian vaccination certificates of travellers fully vaccinated with Covishield/WHO approved/nationally approved Covid vaccines, the official sources said. There are countries which have agreement with India on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates of nationally recognised or WHO recognised vaccines. Similarly, there are countries which presently do not have such an agreement with India, but they exempt Indian citizens fully vaccinated with nationally recognised or WHO recognised vaccines, according to the Health Ministry guidelines. On the basis of reciprocity, the travellers from all such countries which provide quarantine-free entry to Indians are allowed certain relaxations on arrival (Category A countries), the guidelines read. If a traveller is fully vaccinated and coming from a country with which India has reciprocal arrangements for mutual acceptance of WHO approved Covid19 vaccines, they shall be allowed to leave the airport and need not undergo home quarantine. They shall self monitor their health for 14 days' post arrival. If partially or not vaccinated, the travellers need to undertake measures which include submission of sample for post-arrival Covid-19 test at the point of arrival after which they will be allowed to leave the airport, home quarantine for seven days, re-test on the eighth day of arrival in India and if negative, further self-monitor of their health for next 7 days. "Fifteen days must have elapsed since completion of Covid-19 vaccination schedule," the guidelines said. Travellers from countries excluding those countries at risk, will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor their health for 14 days' post arrival. This is applicable to travellers from all countries including countries with which reciprocal arrangements for mutual acceptance of WHO approved Covid-19 vaccines also exist.

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Entry at ASI monuments to be free on 19 Nov

To mark the commencement of the World Heritage Week, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) the custodian of the Centrally protected heritage sites in the country has decided to waive off entry fee to all protected monuments for a day, on November 19, 2021. The entry for visitors will be free to all such monuments and heritage sites in the country today. As per the directive of the Director General of the ASI, no fee will be charged at all the ticketed Centrally protected monuments/ archaeological sites and remains specified in the second schedule of the Ancient monuments and Archaeological sites and Remains Rules, 1959, on November 19, 2021 on the commencement of the World Heritage week celebrations.

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We are finalising a new model whereby seaplane services sustain in Gujarat: Tourism Secretary

Hareet Shukla, Secretary-Tourism, Government of Gujarat, has said that the state is finalising a new model for the seaplane services which will make the operations regular and sustain in the long run. He said that while the initial bidding has been done under the UDAN-RCS scheme of the centre government, in order to make the services regular and sustainable, the state government is working on a new model. Shukla was speaking to ET TravelWorld on the sidelines of an interactive meeting organised by Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) in Delhi. He said that the reason for the discontinuation of the seaplane services launched by the Prime Minister between Sabarmati in Ahmedabad and Kevadia (Statue of Unity) last year were many. The plane was registered in Maldives and the leasing cost, manpower, service cost, etc. were high. He conceded that the costing of the services itself was not sustainable. With the new model, Shukla said that the government is opening seaplane services from four places in the state. Besides Ahmedabad and Kevadia, seaplane connectivity will be launched from Dharoi and Shatrunjay. “Once we start the services, we will make sure the services are regular,” Shukla said. Besides the heritage, adventure and homestay policy which the State Tourism has launched in the last one year, Shukla said that the Tourism department will be finalising a film tourism policy soon. The draft policy is expected to be finalised by January next year, he said. Shukla assured all support to the IATO convention that is slated for midDecember in Gandhinagar.

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Non-stop: American Airlines eyes Mumbai; prepares to compete with Tata-backed Air India

Re-entering India's sky after a gap of nearly 10 years, the Texas-based American Airlines is looking to connect more destinations, especially Mumbai to the US, via non-stop services. Besides, the airline sees the sector gaining more capacity as competition heats-up, notably from the Tata Group-backed Air India. This week, American Airlines launched a new non-stop flight between New York to New Delhi on a Boeing 777-300 aircraft. In a conversation with IANS, Tom Lattig, Managing Director, EMEA, Sales at American Airlines said the airline has seen healthy demand from 'visiting friends and relatives' (VFR) in this sector. Besides, the airline expects to cater to more of student traffic from the new academic session. "We know there are a lot of Indian students in North America, who will travel back and forth. There is also a huge Indian population in the United States. So that is the biggest segment right now. "We are also seeing quite a bit of North America point of sale, leisure business. So we do see some leisure customers, and then the corporate business is still a bit slow to materialise, but we do expect corporate recovery will happen," Lattig told IANS. After Delhi, the airline plans to start a Bengaluru-Seattle service from March 2022. "We are going to work really closely with IndiGo to make sure that we have good connecting times and services for both Chennai and Hyderabad for our Bengaluru service, and as the markets develop, we will evaluate, whether or not it makes sense to add more nonstop flights," Lattig added. At present, the airline it has a codeshare agreement with IndiGo. In aviation parlance, a codeshare agreement allows airlines to sell seats on each others' flights in order to provide passengers with a wider choice of destinations. On other new destinations, he cited the airline's interest in launching a new nonstop flight to Mumbai. "Certainly, I think Mumbai is one we would look at," he said. Additionally, Lattig acknowledged the foreseeable competition in the sector. "We certainly expect Air India and other airlines to be competitors for nonstop flying between India and North America. We are going to reach a lot more of the Indian market through our partnership with IndiGo, as long as, we have a fair level playing field to compete," he mentioned. He continued, "I am sure there will be more capacity that gets added to the India-US market and we will add more capacity when we think it makes sense but good luck to Air India.""I think they have got new backing and support from the Tatas, which should be good for them. We look forward to compete against them," he added.

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Three new eco-tourist spots on anvil in Odisha

The Odisha government has decided to set up three new eco-tourist spots in the state and employ a community-based management (CBM) approach to operate them, as it has been successful in generating income for tribal families, an official release said on Thursday. Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, during a virtual meeting, asked the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation to acquire non-forest plots near popular ecotourism centres, and develop them into tourism and hospitality units. "The CBM has provided alternative and sustainable livelihood to many people who, otherwise, were dependent on forest. It has also empowered people and infused a sense of belongingness towards the forest and wildlife among them," he said at the meeting. Proposals were approved for developing the new eco-spots with night-stay facilities near Deomali- the highest mountain peak of Odisha- in Koraput district, Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary in Kandhamal, and Nawana valley in Mayurbhanj. Mohapatra directed the forest department to release funds immediately for developing the spots and maintaining their "pristine character with adequate sanitation measures", according to the official release. A proposal to form a high-level society for enhancing professionalism in the sector was also discussed in the meeting, it stated. Additional Chief Forest Secretary Mona Sharma said eco-retreat activities usually invoked private investment in the sector.

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