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Booking For Air India Flights to these International Destination Begins Today 8 PM

International Flights: Air India has announced the details of flights to the US, Paris and Frankfurt that will begin their services from this month. Bookings will open from July 18, 8 PM Indian time. Not only on the website, but the bookings can also be done through Air India booking offices and through authorised travel agents. Delhi-Paris Beginning Date: July 23 Frequency: 3 flights every week on Wednesday, Friday Sunday Delhi-Frankfurt Beginning Date: July 25 Frequency: 4 flights every week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. India-USA Flights will operate to/from New York, Chicago, Newark, San Francisco and Washington DC and will offer connections to Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Dates: 180 flights between July 22 and August 31. America’s airline United Airlines has already opened booking for New Delhi-New York flights. The tickets are fast depleting as United Airlines ticket fare starts at Rs 57,000 — almost half of Air India’s ticket price. Customers booking tickets must confirm the entry requirements, mandated by the Indian government, United Airlines said. “Operations across the world are currently happening in a limited & controlled way. We will further ramp up operations after considering the behaviour of the pandemic, and demand from our citizens,” Air India tweeted replying to passengers asking for the date of the resumption of international flights.

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Tourism circuit involving beaches, lions, temples to be developed in Saurashtra

The Gujarat government has announced that Saurashtra will soon have a tourism circuit involving beaches, pilgrim places and lions. Vijay Rupani, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, launched projects worth INR 126.96 crore on Thursday for the same. The CM said, “The Gujarat government is mulling developing a tourist circuit involving pilgrim places, beaches in Saurashtra and the pride of Gujarat, lions of Gir forest and chalk out a circuit surrounding all these places. Pilgrim places like Jyotirling Somnath and Girnar hill, historical places like Uparkot, the beaches of Somnath and lion sighting in Gir Lion Sanctuary in Saurashtra.” He further said that the government is firm on the decision to make Gujarat a world-class tourist destination and that they’ll be developing several tourist centres for the same. As of now, the latest major tourist attraction in Gujarat is the ropeway in Girnar that is all set to start shortly. On the other hand, the Somnath Temple in Veraval has already had development work costing around INR 45 crore. Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of state for tourism, was also present at the time of launch. During the online launch, the CM also informed that the state government is working continuously on developing world-class facilities for tourists. These facilities include a community kitchen, spacious parking area, information center for tourists, and Somnath Museum at the temple, among others. Emphasizing on economic growth, the CM added, “Gujarat is emerging as a new force in economic growth by providing more jobs in service sectors like tourism.” Given the current pandemic situation, when things are gradually unlocking amid Coronavirus outbreak, people are little apprehensive about travelling or getting out of their houses. Gujarat, as of now, has recorded 45481 COVID-19 positive cases and 2089 deaths.

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Russia begins negotiations to reopen for tourism

Russia will officially begin negotiations to reopen its borders for international tourism according to a new government decree. Russia will no longer require foreigners to self-isolate for 14 days once the country reopens to international tourism. Those arriving in Russia will need to present English or Russian-language proof that they have tested negative for the coronavirus in the past 72 hours to be allowed entry. Foreigners that arrive without test results will be required to submit a PCR test for Covid-19 within 72 hours of arrival, the decree states. If the test comes back positive, visitors will be required to self-isolate for 14 days. Last Friday, deputy prime minister Tatiana Golikova said authorities will begin negotiations with other countries to restart international flights from July 15. Reopening of flight routes would be based on the principle of reciprocity — meaning Russia will need to strike an agreement with each government to resume air travel, Golikova said. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Tatyana Golikova, air travel will first resume to countries where the incidence of COVID-19 is no greater than 40 cases per hundred thousand people. The average daily increase in the number of people infected and the rate of spread of the disease in such states should not exceed one percent. Russia grounded most international flights on March 27, with only a handful of special repatriation flights and other government-approved flights bringing passengers to and from Russia over the past three months. Foreign citizens have also been barred from entering the country since late March. The European Union, which reopened its borders on July 1 to visitors from 15 countries, is still officially closed to Russians. Russia has recorded over 738,787 confirmed cases of covid-19 resulting in 11,597 deaths according to John Hopkins University.

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Railways rolls out specially designed train coaches for post-Covid travel

In continuation with its efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Indian Railways has now rolled out specially designed coaches for post-Covid travel. The train coach manufacturing factory of Indian Railways, Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, is launching post Covid-19 coaches, the release stated. “Sustaining the ruthless fight against Covid-19, Indian Railways’ production unit, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, has developed a Post Covid Coach to fight Covid 19. This post Covid coach has design improvements in the coach like hands-free amenities, copper-coated handrails & latches, plasma air purification and titanium di-oxide coating for Covid free passenger journey,” the Indian Railways said in a press release on Tuesday. On the salient features of the post-Covid coach, the Indian Railways said, “The post-Covid coach has hands-free amenities like foot operated water tap & soap dispenser, foot operated lavatory door (outside), foot operated flush valve, foot operated latches in lavatory door, outside washbasin with foot operated water tap and soap dispenser and forearm operated handle on compartment door.” The coaches will be equipped with copper-coated handrails and latches. “Copper has anti microbial properties. When virus lands on copper, Ion blasts pathogen and destroy the DNA and RNA inside the virus,” the Indian Railways said. The post-Covid coach has a provision of plasma air equipment in AC duct. “This plasma air equipment will sterilise the air and surfaces inside the AC coach using ionised air to make the coach Covid-19 and particulate matter resistant, the railways said. The coach has having titanium di-oxide coating in the coach. “This is aeco-friendly water-based coating that kills viruses, bacteria, mould, and fungal growth and most importantly enhances indoor air quality. This coating applied on washbasins, lavatory, seats & berths, snack table, glass window, floor, virtually every surface that comes in human contact. Effective life of this coating is 12 months.”

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International flights to resume as India establishes air travel bubbles with US, Germany, others

India has established individual bilateral bubbles with France, Germany and the US that will allow airlines of each country in the pact to operate international flights, said the Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday. A similar arrangement with the UK will soon be permitted, it added. Air France will be operating 28 flights between Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Paris from July 18 to August 1, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at a press conference. American carrier United Airlines will be flying 18 flights between India and the US from July 17 to 31, he added. "They (United) are flying a daily flight between Delhi and Newark and a thrice-a-week flight between Delhi and San Francisco," Puri noted. The minister on Thursday said India is planning to establish a bubble with the UK soon under which there would be two flights per day between Delhi and London. "We have got a request from Germans also. I think the arrangement with Lufthansa is almost done...We are processing that request," Puri said. However, later during the day, the Civil Aviation Ministry issued a statement that said, "Air bubbles established with US, France and Germany...Lufthansa will also be operating (flights)." The statement also said, "Talk of an air bubble in an advanced stage with the UK." From India, Air India will be operating flights to France, Germany and the US under these bubbles. An air bubble is a bilateral arrangement with a set of regulations and restrictions in which the carriers of the two countries can operate international flights. On July 9, India had announced an air bubble with the UAE that would be in place from July 12 to 26. The minister said at the press conference, "Now we have many demands for air bubbles, but we need to be careful. We should permit that many only that we can handle." Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. After nearly two months of suspension to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the government resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25. However, it had then allowed the airlines to operate maximum 33 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) increased the limits on June 26 from 33 per cent to 45 per cent. "We are assuming that by the time Diwali comes this year, we would have 55-60 per cent of pre-COVID domestic flights operating in India," Puri said at the press conference. I had imagined we would reach 33 per cent of our domestic capacity by July 15 but we have not, the minister said. Various states like Maharashtra have put restrictions on the number of flights that their airports can handle per day, he said, adding that he expects this would change in coming 2-3 weeks. He said once the domestic capacity reaches 50-55 per cent of its pre-COVID capacity, the government will get the confidence about opening international air travel further. The fact of the matter is that international flights will take place between bigger metros in India and outside locations, the minister mentioned. Giving the example of the Mumbai airport, he said if more international flights are allowed to Mumbai, those passengers will need forward flights to go to other places in India but that will be a constraint as the airport handles only 50 flights per day. The India-UAE air bubble was permitted on July 9 under specific conditions. Charter flights operated by the UAE carriers have been permitted to bring Indian citizens from the UAE to India and carry "ICA-approved UAE residents" on their return leg, said the Civil Aviation Ministry. The ICA stands for the UAE's Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship. On India to the UAE journeys, all these flights have been permitted to carry only those passengers who are destined for the Gulf country, it noted. The ministry also said, "Indian carriers operating repatriation flights to bring Indian citizens from UAE to India will be allowed to carry the ICA-approved UAE residents (returning to UAE from India) on the outward journey from India to the UAE."

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Thailand Creating New Health and Safety Standards for Tourism

A group of Thailand’s leading Destination Management Companies (DMCs) have developed the new Thailand Hygiene Plus Initiative (THPI) in the wake of the devastation wrought on the tourism industry by the COVID-19 pandemic. The standards incorporate, but aren’t limited to, those included in the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s ‘Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration’ (SHA) Certification Program that was launched in May 2020 as a method for identifying businesses—including hotels, attractions, eateries, transport companies, tour operators and more—that have passed official inspection for implementing all appropriate COVID-19 hygiene and quality-control methods. The new THPI’s aim is to advance a step further toward solidifying confidence in Thailand as a destination, as well as its tourism facilitators, as being safe for travel as the country begins its phased reopening to international visitors. Its checklist of shared standards and requirements for DMCs span six areas of operations: offices, staff, ground teams, meals, vehicles and transportation, sports equipment and facilities. Herman Hoven, CEO of Khiri Travel, said, “With the Thailand Hygiene Plus initiative, responsible DMCs in Thailand are giving international tour operators tangible proof, and meaningful assurances, that we are taking extensive and proactive hygiene measures in order to restore confidence while traveling.” ‘United DMCs of Thailand’ members who have signed on to participate in the THPI include Abercrombie & Kent Thailand, Asia Exotica, Asian Trails, Black Rice Travel–A Member of LUXPERIA Collective, Destination Asia (Thailand), EXO Travel Thailand, Go Vacation Thailand, Khiri Travel Thailand, Panorama Destination Thailand, Remote Lands, Smiling Albino, Tour East and Travel Exclusive Asia Thailand. Daniel Fraser, Founder and Director of Smiling Albino, said, "When COVID hit the industry, our collective focus was on the swift and safe return of travel. The implementation a of united standard for future travel, formed through the collaboration of our peers, was natural.” He added, "Collectively changing for the better, to create a safe and healthy travel experience for each DMC’s travelers shows that we are in this together and stronger as one.”

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