Days after the Indian government said it would continue to suspend scheduled international flights to and from India until further notice, it yesterday (March 8) announced the resumption of scheduled international flights from March 27.
The decision has been welcomed by India’s tourism stakeholders who have been pleading with the government to resume scheduled international flight operations at the earliest.
“We have been demanding the resumption of scheduled international flights for a long time in our meetings with the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). Though the road of inbound tourism recovery is a long one, the decision sends a positive message in the international markets that India is ready for international tourism. The airfares will now also become competitive which otherwise have been skyrocketing in the present aviation bubble arrangement,” said Sanjay Razdan, Joint Secretary, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO).
As the decision comes just ahead of the summer travel season, it will allow airlines to add international flights. This could result in the lowering of airfares on some international routes, which have risen in recent weeks due to increasing oil prices and the Ukraine crisis.
“The Rupee sadly has depreciated significantly and that will make foreign travel more expensive but hopefully, the capacity increase might bring down international airfares to more realistic levels to even things out. There is a tremendous pent-up demand and we should see a significant uptick in bookings,” said Ajay Prakash, President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI)
Prakash shared that in view of the anticipated surge in demand, TAFI has appealed to the airlines through the Airline Passenger Joint Council (APJC) of IATA to come forward and help in our revival by agreeing to a 10-day payment cycle instead of the current weekly settlement.
India had suspended operations of scheduled international commercial passenger services with effect from March 23, 2020, in the wake of the pandemic.
While applauding the announcement of the government, Jyoti Mayal, President of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) termed the decision as a positive one which the association has been advocating for a long time.
“The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Ministry of Tourism (MoT) have been working in a collaborative manner and soon the e-visa for travel into India will also open to facilitating inbound travellers.
“The industry needs to come back into action and start planning for outbound too as the holiday season is around the corner in India. Opening of commercial flights will not only bring about ease of travel for the traveller but lower costs and offer multiple choices to travel,” Mayal added.
Vishal Suri, Managing Director of SOTC Travel while welcoming the announcement said that the move will provide much-needed relief for the sector, more so as it comes during India’s key booking season for the spring and summer school vacations.
The Indian government had shelved an earlier plan of resuming international scheduled commercial flights from December 15, 2021, following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
“We are expecting a revival of tourism and hospitality sector with our skies opening up for scheduled international flights. A number of international tourism boards are now marketing their destinations in India, investing in activities like joint promotions with trade partners. The resumptions of scheduled international flights will help such NTOs to boost outbound travel in their respective markets,” said Naveen Manchanda, President, Indian Association of Travel and Tourism Experts (IATTE).
The decision means that airlines can operate with capacity as decided under the original bilateral air service agreements between India and their home country, instead of the restricted capacities decided under the air bubble arrangements.
As per the data available with MoCA, approximately 580 international flights operated from India per day, of which 247 were operated by Indian airlines and 333 by international carriers as per the winter schedule of 2019-20 (October 27, 2019 to March 28, 2020).
“We had written to Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, just two days back, requesting him to start scheduled international flights from India. With the opening up of world tourism, relaxation in Covid restrictions and India coming on the ‘Green’ list of most countries, we feel that the announcement regarding starting scheduled international flights couldn’t have come at a better time.
“The resumption of international scheduled flights will boost the confidence of Indian travellers, who are yearning for an international holiday. The outbound sector in India has suffered immensely in the last two years and we are all hopeful that the surge in travel will help us to revive at least some bit of our losses,” said Riaz Munshi, President, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI).
Airlines have been wary of the effect of the Ukraine crisis and the consequent airspace restrictions. As per industry observers, rising jet fuel prices and the rerouting of flights due to airspace restrictions have already resulted in an increase in fares for India-US and India-Canada flights.
However, a majority of tourism stakeholders remain positive about the outbound travel demand. “The demand for international travel is picking up in India and there has been a significant uptick in travel search queries for popular international destinations like Australia, Sri Lanka, US and UK. Travel search queries from India for Australian cities like Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney have jumped 15-20% this month. We are seeing a trend of travellers now eager to book long-haul destinations, fuelled by international borders reopening and relaxation of rules across the globe,” said Aloke Bajpai, Co-founder & Group CEO, ixigo.
“We are confident that inbound tourism to India will bounce back in a big way and between October to December this year, we should be near the pre-covid levels. Hopefully, the fuel price may start coming down, once the war situation between Ukraine and Russia becomes easy,” said Subhash Goyal, President, Confederation of Tourism Professionals.
The Indian hospitality stakeholders have also hailed the government’s announcement.
“Foreign exchange earnings for the last two financial years have been entirely wiped out due to travel restrictions which also forced approximately 30 per cent of hotels and restaurants to shut business and millions lost their jobs. The hospitality industry’s total revenue in the financial year 2019-20 stood at Rs.1.82 lakh Crore and it employed over 50 million people. During the period, the tourism and hospitality industry reported forex earnings of US$30 billion making it India’s third-largest foreign exchange earner. The latest announcement has come as a ray of hope for hospitality businesses and those employed in the sector,” said Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI).
Sarbendra Sarkar, Founder & MD, Cygnett Hotels & Resorts said, “The resumption of international scheduled flights augurs well for the inbound demand in India. At present with India easing travel for international travellers, the move has come at the right time. Besides making the airfares competitive, the decision will send a positive signal in international markets that India is ready to welcome tourists. We expect average daily rates (ADRs) will also go up due to international movement.”
“While our Shirdi, Tirupati, Manali and Bandavgarh properties have been doing well post Omicron as domestic tourism is surging; our Bangalore, Kolkata and Jaipur property which rely on expat business tourism and inbound tourists will finally see firming up of average rates. MICE and inbound segments will pick pace post this announcement,” said Vishal Lonkar, GM, Brand Development, Renest Hotels & Resorts.
“While the domestic market has been resilient and local demand has steadily grown over the past few weeks, the restart of international flights will augment the occupancy growth and further aid the recovery of hotels. We are seeing an uptick in demand from international markets, and with the easing of restrictions, are looking forward to welcoming our international guests back with all of our facilities operational,” said Vinay Nair, GM, DoubleTree by Hilton Pune Chinchwad.