UB Group-controlled Kingfisher Airlines has brought down foreign stake in the company from around 53% to 49%, just within the prescribed foreign investment cap of 49% permitted in the airline business in India.

The domestic aviation industry is on the best flight ever.In May, all the factors impacting the bottomline of an airline were positive — seat load factor at over 85% was the highest in a decade, air travel demand was robust at 22%, comparatively capacity addition was subdued and oil price at around $74 per barrel was softer than earlier years.

The jury is out on Spicejet’s new owner Kalanithi Maran’s proposal to change the name of India’s second largest low-cost carrier at a later date. While some think the move doesn’t make sense, others like Ogilvy & Mather South Asia Chairman Piyush Pandey says it would not make much of a difference provided the process is handled well.

The Union environment and forest ministry has rejected a move by the tourism lobby to turn parts of tiger reserves and reserved forests into exclusive enclaves for high-end tourism.

The government’s attempt to ease FDI in the hotel and tourism sector bodes well for the real estate industry. The government aims to remove the minimum capital and area requirement for hotels as well as exclude them from the purview of the three-year lock-in clause that governs real estate activities. This move comes at an opportune time as India is facing a huge demand-supply mismatch in the availability of rooms.

Forget all those wildlife safaris promising glimpses of lions and tigers. Some tour operators in the Andamans are offering more “exotic” fare.

Passengers on board a Kuala Lumpur-Chennai flight had some anxious moments when lightning struck the aircraft twice while it was in the air.

The U. S airline executives said that there has been a recovery in the business travel that brought about gains in the revenues from international as well as domestic passengers and also bringing down concerns about the high fuel prices.

According to a PTI report, air traffic growth rate in India rebounded to almost pre-recession levels showing a continuous growth recording a 22 per cent rise in the first five months of this year. As per data released recently by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines from January to May this year was 211.38 lakh against 173.34 lakh in the same period last year, showing a growth of 21.95 per cent.

The revival of corporate business once again has brought smiles back on the faces of the travel houses, who are reporting increase in bookings from this sector too.