As part of its route rationalisation and cost-cutting measures, Air India plans to replace its twin-class aircraft with all-economy ones belonging to low-cost subsidiary Air India Express on some Gulf routes from the end of this month.

Indians are now among the world's biggest travellers but this has hardly helped our home-grown airlines, thanks to the government's lop-sided policy that appears to favour foreign airlines over desi ones. As a result, in region after region, the lion's share of seats are taken up by foreign carriers while the Indian carriers are left with a fraction.

In the Winter Schedule effective October 25, Air India will be operating with the Airbus A-320 aircraft on the Hyderabad-Kolkata-Hyderabad sector. With the introduction of the 145-seater Airbus A-320 by replacing the 68-seater smaller CRJ aircraft on this sector, Air India adds more seats for passengers connecting to various destinations in the North-East and vice-versa. The Airbus A-320 Flight IC-218/IC-217 will be operating between Hyderabad and Kolkata on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flight IC-218 departs Hyderabad at 19:25hrs to arrive Kolkata at 21:30hrs. Flight IC-217 leaves Kolkata at 16:20hrs and reaches Hyderabad at 18:25 hrs. - Our Bureau

Even as Air India's demand for equity infusion of Rs 5,000 crore is expected to be considered by a group of ministers on Wednesday, along with its financial restructuring plan, the state-owned carrier has inched a step closer towards integration of the IT platforms of Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Enthused by its success in the Delhi-Beijing flights, state-owned Air China is studying the feasibility of starting another route from Chengdu to an Indian metropolitan city with Kolkata, Banglore and Mumbai making it to the final list, a top official said on Monday.

A proposal from the Dainik Bhaskar media group to allow more foreign equity in it and another one from Travel Channel International, UK, for setting up an Indian subsidiary, have been approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

With an aim to develop and popularize environmental tourism, the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation inaugurated its environmental tourism division on Monday.

Loss-Laden Indian airlines industry is likely to save as much as 10% on operational cost if the rupee manages to stay around its current level against the dollar, the possibility of which looks bright, analysts say. This possible saving may be a boon for the domestic carriers which suffered a combined loss of Rs 10,000 crore last year.

The Home Ministry’s move to streamline the visa system without consulting other stakeholders has claimed collateral damage in the form of up to 1,000 Russian scientists and engineers working in critical sectors such as defence undertakings and nuclear power plants.

It’s proving to be a cracker of a Diwali for Delhi’s hotel industry that has been reeling under the impact of global recession and had seen a sharp erosion in occupancies and tariffs since last year.With the economy gradually recovering and industry expecting a significant increase in inbound travel this winter, hotels have hiked tariffs by 15% to 25% for this peak travel season.