World Bank Assistance for Buddhist Circuit in India

The Union Ministry of Tourism, the Departments of Tourism of the Governments of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group)had entered into an agreement in October 2013 to cooperate in upgrading the quality of services and goods provided for tourists along the “Buddhist Circuit” in India.  The project has been completed.  The contributions for the project (Phase-I) were as follows:-

Total Cost: Rs. 450.00 lakh

IFC – 40% of the project cost in Phase-I	Rs. 180.00 lakh
Ministry of  Tourism – 50% of the project cost in Phase – I	Rs. 225.00 lakh
State Govts of Uttar Pradesh & Bihar – 5% each of the project cost in Phase – I	Rs. 45.00 lakh (Rs. 22.50 lakh each)

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), Culture (Independent Charge), and Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply to an unstarred question to the Lok Sabha.

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Qatar expands frequencies on ten top routes as demand increases

Qatar Airways has responded to the continuous rise in passenger demand with an increase in the frequency of weekly flights to ten of its most popular destinations throughout the Middle East and Europe.

The airline, which currently flies to 146 destinations around the globe, will implement the frequency increases over the next few months for a mix of business and leisure destinations.

Commencing May 16th, 2015, the airline will permanently increase weekly frequencies to seven destinations within its network.

These include Ta’if, Saudi Arabia; Basra, Iraq; Najaf, Iraq; Gassim, Saudi Arabia; Ankara, Turkey; Zagreb, Croatia; and Athens, Greece.

The airline will also increase the weekly frequency of flights to an additional three destinations during the peak summer period, to meet the increase in demand over the holiday season: Alexandria, Egypt; Salalah, Oman and Larnaca, Cyprus.

These additional flights will be seasonal only and the routes will revert back to their regular schedules from September 15th, October 4th and October 24th respectively.

The permanent frequency increases will see Ta’if, Zagreb and Ankara begin daily flight services commencing May 16th, July 1st and July 3rd respectively.

Meanwhile, the service to two Iraqi destinations will double from four to eight flights per week with Basra beginning on May 16th and Najaf on June 2nd, while ten flights per week will be offered to Gassim as of July 17th.

The most significant increase in frequency is the launch of an additional daily service on June 1st to Athens, bringing the number of weekly flights to the popular holiday destination up from 14 to 21 per week.

To help meet the demand of summer holiday travel, Qatar Airways will increase the number of flights per week to another three destinations.

Service to Alexandria will increase to 14 flights a week from June 1st to September 15th; flights to Larnaca will increase to a daily service from June 3rd to October 24th; and flights to Salalah will increase to 13 flights per week from July 13th to October 4th.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways is committed to developing access to a number of destinations within our network which are popular with both our business and leisure travellers.

“Our most current frequency increases in the Middle East and Europe will provide our passengers with more flexibility and choice when it comes to planning their travel for both themselves and their families.

“We are pleased that so many travellers choose to fly with Qatar Airways, which is why we continue to expand the range of our five-star service and products.”

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China plane crash claims 42 lives

As many as 42 passengers have been killed in a plane crash in the north-eastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang.
According to reports from Chinese state media, the Henan Airlines operated aircraft overshot the runway at Yichun City airport with 91 people on board.
Three of the survivors remain in intensive care in local hospitals, added the state news agency Xinhua.
The Air Embraer 190 aircraft, travelling from Harbin, the provincial capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, broke into two on landing at 22:10 local time last night.
While the cause of the accident has yet to be established, officials investigating the incident confirmed the flight recorder had been recovered.
The pilot is also believed to be among the survivors. However, he is presently unable to assist investigators due to his injuries.
China Central Television (CCTV) has broadcast accounts from survivors of the disaster.
One male survivor explained: “The plane really started to jolt in a scary way - the plane jolted five or six times very strongly.”
Henan Airlines is operated by Air China. Both airlines have suspended all flights following the incident.
Improving Safety
The accident is the first fatal airline crash on Chinese soil for six years and comes against a background of improving safety in the country.
In 2004 a China Eastern Airlines operated Bombardier CRJ-200 crashed into a frozen lake in Inner Mongolia shortly after takeoff, killing 53 people onboard.
Air travel in China has increase by nearly 300 per cent over the past decade, with airlines seeking to modernise fleets to meet international standards.
In a statement planemaker Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA said: “Embraer has made a team of specialists available, and they are already on their way to the site, to support Chinese authorities in the accident investigation.”
The crash is the first fatal accident involving the Brazilian company’s E-Jet family of narrow body aircraft.
Air China, the world’s largest airline by market value, fell 2.2 per cent to 11.39 yuan in Shanghai trading earlier today.
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Passengers stranded following San Andres crash

As many as 3,000 international passengers are stranded on the Colombian island of San Andres following a plane crash earlier this week.

A single fatality was reported following the crash landing of an Aerovías de Integración Regional ( airline Boeing 737-700 on Monday.

Over 120 passengers and five crew were able to walk away from the wreckage following the incident, which is believed to have been caused by a lightning strike.

However, three people injured in the crash - a German, a Colombian woman, and an 11-year-old Colombian girl - remain in the intensive care unit of a Bogota hospital.

Aires president Francisco Mendez confirmed United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators are presently in San Andres examining the crash site alongside local authorities.

As a result, virtually all aviation traffic from the island has been suspended.

“The full reopening of the runway and the airport will only occur once the investigation teams give the go ahead to remove the crashed aircraft,” said a spokesperson for Colombian Civil Aviation Authority Aerocivil.

At present only small aircraft and a private ambulance plane are allowed to take off from the airport.

Local officials confirmed both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered from the crash site.

Aires successfully underwent a routine safety audit in July.

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Virgin Blue axes New Zealand

Pacific Blue, a subsidiary of Richard Branson’s Virgin Blue, is axing its New Zealand domestic operations after suffering from years of heavy losses. It will redeploy planes and staff on transtasman services to Australia.

The cost of flying within New Zealand is also expected to spike, with Air New Zealand and Jet Star now the only two remaining domestic carriers.

Pacific Blue will redeploy its 737 aircraft in New Zealand to trans-Tasman and Asian routes. Its long-haul offshoot, V Australia, will also stop flying to Fiji, and instead switch Pacific Blue’s 737s to this leisure route.

The decision to pull Pacific Blue out of New Zealand has been tipped for more than 18 months as margins have been squeezed ever tighter. Last year, Jetstar replaced its parent, Qantas, on domestic routes.

Virgin Blue’s chief executive, John Borghetti, said that Pacific Blue was continually draining money in New Zealand because three airlines were competing for travellers in a country of just 4 million people.

He declined to put a definitive figure on the losses, but said they had been in the tens of millions since it began there about three years ago. ‘‘The prospects of it turning a profit are not good so there really is no point continuing,’’ he said.

Borghetti also insisted that Virgin Blue’s proposed tie-up with Air New Zealand on trans-Tasman services was not related to its decision to withdraw from New Zealand.

Virgin Blue said it would boost its workforce in New Zealand by 100 to 550 over the next six months to service flights across the Tasman and to the Pacific islands.
However union claims that jobs would be lost, and that any new crews would lower wages.

Borghetti said the move was just the first phase of the network review, and he did not rule out the airline flying to other destinations such as Tokyo. Pacific Blue will increase flights over the coming months between Australia and Phuket, Bali and three New Zealand cities.

V Australia’s flights between Sydney and Los Angeles will also be increased to daily services from December, and it will operate an extra weekly service from Melbourne to Johannesburg, LA and Phuket.

Canadian airlines rebound in second quarter

Air Canada and WestJet have reported an improvement in their financial performance for the second quarter of financial 2010, as both are boosted by demand for business travel.

Air Canada – the largest airline in the country – recorded a net loss of C$72 million for the three month period. However, this was down from a loss of C$193 for the same period in 2009.

Passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM), an industry performance benchmark, also increase by 6.6 per cent.

“While there remains much work to do, over the past 15 months, we have met many of the objectives we set out to achieve - namely to build adequate liquidity and achieve strong revenue management and better cost control while expanding our international network,” said Air Canada president Calin Rovinescu.

Passenger revenues at the flag-carrier increased by $256 million, or 12 per cent, from the second quarter of 2009 due to an 8.7 per cent growth in traffic and a 3.3 per cent improvement in yield, the airline confirmed.

A 5.3 per cent increase in capacity growth recorded over the period was driven by demand for international and US transborder flying.

“Asian and European markets in which we added capacity are performing well, led by our Pacific routes which recorded a 37 per cent increase in revenue from the previous year’s quarter on strong traffic and yield growth,” added Mr. Rovinescu.

Air Canada also outlined plans to double its capacity between Toronto and China this autumn with introduction of daily flights year-round to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.

The closure of European airspace in mid-April due to volcanic ash reduced Air Canada’s operating income by about C$20 million.

Following the release of the results, Air Canada’s shares ebbed four Canadian cents to C$2.26 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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WestJet

An improving picture was also reported by rival WestJet, which said net earnings increased 129.7 per cent from $9.2 million in the second quarter of 2009 to $21 for the same period of 2010.

The Calgary-based airline – which has remained profitable throughout the recession - earned C$21 million, or 14 Canadian cents a share, up from C$9.2 million, or seven Canadian cents, a year earlier.

“We are pleased to deliver our 21st consecutive quarter of profitability,” said WestJet president Gregg Saretsky.

RASM at the airline was up by four per cent to 12.80 cents.

Despite the optimism, WestJet is deferring the delivery of three aircraft from 2011 and 2012, until to 2017. As a result the airline will now be taking delivery of six aircraft in 2011 and five aircraft in 2012.

“Economic uncertainty has caused us to re-think our short-term capacity plan,” explained added Mr Saretsky.

“We have worked closely with our valued partner Boeing to further enhance our fleet plan flexibility.”