Skift Take
Air travel in India is recovering rapidly, and as the demand is rising, the sector remains underserved. Efforts are being ramped up to improve aviation infrastructure in the country.
The Adani Group is set to invest INR 600 billion in its airport business over the next five to 10 years. This investment will be used to expand seven of the existing airports in its portfolio and will be split evenly between ‘airside’ expansion and ‘cityside’ development, the conglomerate said.
Airports set to expand: The group has identified Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, and Jaipur airports for this expansion. While the group acquired the operating rights for the Mumbai airport in 2021, the remaining six of the selected airports had been acquired by Adani Group in 2019.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone managing director Karan Adani stated that the current capacity at the group’s airports is 100-110 million passengers annually. The aim is to increase this capacity by up to three times with the help of the investments. The Lucknow airport has already got a new terminal, and new terminals are being planned in Ahmedabad and Jaipur.
Air travel in India: Air travel in India is recovering rapidly. In 2022-23, Indian airlines carried nearly 160 million passengers, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. This marked a 90% increase from the previous year. It was also about 4 million less than the 2019-20 pre-Covid figure. In January 2024 alone, domestic airlines carried more than 13 million passengers.
Earlier this year, union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that despite the immense growth in the aviation industry in the country, the Indian market is still underserved. Over the past nine years, the number of airports in India have doubled from 74 to 149. Adani is currently also developing the airport in Navi Mumbai, which has a separate outlay of INR 180 billion ($2.18 billion).
Trevolution Group Reports Record Airline Tickets in 2023
Trevolution Group sold nearly 87,000 airline tickets to and from India last year. This was the group’s record airfare sales figure in the country, and marked a 17% growth as compared to 2022. The airfare sales results in India have exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the group. With $143 million in gross bookings, 2023 has become the most profitable year for Trevolution in India till date.
The group reported that India continued to see increased inbound tourism, especially as the country has historically been among the most popular travel destinations for passengers from the US. However, the country’s outbound travel sales witnessed the most significant growth of more than 130%.
Goa Beaches to Get Co-Working Spaces
The Government of Goa is planning to establish co-working spaces at the Morjim and Ashwem beaches. The move seeks to promote the concept of workation to visitors, as well as to establish the coastal state as an ideal destination to work remotely from.
This initiative is also a part of the state’s larger vision to provide nomad visas to people who would want to work from the state. To materialize this, the state government is in contact with the Government of India. Goa is actively positioning itself as a destination that has more than its beaches. For this, it has recently partnered with MakeMyTrip to promote the state as a year-round destination with more to offer than its beaches.
Oravel Stays to Start Self-Operated Premium Hotels Under Palette Brand
Hospitality chain OYO’s parent company Oravel Stays is set to self-operate premium hotels under its Palette brand, in a move that will replicate the success of OYO Rooms model. The company had launched the brand last year and has several hotels under the brand in places like Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru. Now, it is looking to take direct operational control of select hotels. Oravel also plans to launch 12 more self-operated Palette hotels by the end of 2024, the first of which will open in Morbi, Gujarat.
OYO had started in 2012 as a hotel aggregator, looking to provide full-stack technology products to independent hotels and homes, but eventually moved to a franchise model. The company is now looking at an Initial Public Offer (IPO), likely in 2024.
IndiGo Announces New Flights Between Chandigarh and Dharamshala
Budget airline IndiGo has announced new flights between Chandigarh and Dharamshala. The direct flights, which will operate thrice a week, will commence next month. Last year, the airline had launched flights between Delhi and Dharamshala.
The largest airline in terms of market share and fleet size in India, IndiGo currently serves 87 domestic destinations, and is seeking to expand its operations. In 2023, the airline placed an order for 500 Airbus A320neo family aircraft to support its domestic and international expansion plans.
South Africa Tourism Gives Push to Incentive Travel Initiative in India
The third edition of South Africa Tourism’s incentive travel initiative – Corporate Think Tank – is underway. According to the tourism board, India is among the largest markets that contribute to the inbound incentive travel in the African nation.
Neliswa Nkani, hub head – Middle East, India and South-East Asia, South African Tourism, said that India has emerged as the one of the leading contributors to the travel and tourism sector from Asia. She added that South Africa is seeking to continue building on the MICE travel momentum from India this year.
India is one of the top three growth markets for the African country, with nearly 80,000 Indian travelers having visited South Africa in 2023. Last year, about 46% of the Indian tourists in South Africa were traveling for business.
Cleartrip’s Summer Travel Sale Announced
Flipkart-owned online travel agency Cleartrip has announced the second edition of its summer travel sale #NationOnVacation. Set to commence on March 14, the sale will continue for nine days to allow customers to get deals on bookings for the coming summer season.
The summer period is among the most active periods for the travel industry in India. Due to summer vacations, families undertake their travel during this period. Beginning last year, Cleartrip has made efforts to capitalize on this booking boom. The first edition of this sale in 2023 had led to the online travel platform recording a 60% increase in bookings as compared to 2022.