Private air taxi service between Bihar and Jharkhand commented today with a three-seater chartered plane making the first trip form Ranchi to Patna.

Britain will pledge $340 million ($564.9 million) in loans to plane-maker Airbus to make sure a part of its upcoming A350 passenger jet is built in the UK.

Now here's some good news. Despite the economic slowdown and fears of a global pandemic, the domestic tourism industry is cruising along well. Both foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings from tourism—considered key barometers for the hospitality sector—have seen positive trends in July 2009.

ITB Berlin, one of the world’s leading travel and tourism show, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Asian Travel and Tourism Expo (SATTE). The next SATTE travel show in 2010 will now be a co-branded event with ITB, Berlin.

Kingfisher Airlines launched on Friday a new international flight, connecting Kolkata with Bangkok after London, Colombo, Dhaka and Dubai, Bangkok is the fifth international destination on the international route network of Kingfisher Airlines.

India slipped three notches in the list of countries earning foreign exchange from international tourists in 2008 mainly due to security concerns intensified by the Mumbai terrorist attacks and a strong rupee making the country a more expensive destination.

Security concerns intensified by the Mumbai terrorist attacks and a strong rupee that made the country a costlier destination ensured that India slipped three notches in the list of countries earning foreign exchange from tourism in 2008, despite that higher number of overseas tourist arrivals.

Jet Airways will launch a new daily flight on the Hyderabad, Dubai sector on August 16, 2009.The new flight will be the airline’s first international service from Hyderabad and its second daily service to Dubai from South India.

After having announced in April the commencement of chartered commercial air service between Bihar and Jharkhand the Indian Air Taxi (operator Spirit Air) has now teamed up with DTDS Travel and Tour Planner Private Limited introduce the service between Patna, Gaya and Ranchi, beginning August 14.

Airports across the country have been put on high alert till August 20 in view of Independence Day. Initially, there was a perceived threat from hijacked or hired helicopters, but sources said the issue had been addressed. Meanwhile, entry of visitors inside airport buildings has been prohibited and all airlines have to carry out a mandatory ladder point security check for passengers.