Tag: travel news
MakeMyTrip acquires Mygola
April 23 (TravelAndy): Online travel agency MakeMyTrip has acquired “certain assets” of travel start-up Mygola.com.
A statement released by the acquiring company said the entire team of Mygola will now work with MakeMyTrip.
“The Mygola team’s deep understanding of travellers’ planning and in-destination experience preferences will be very valuable in strengthening our proposition in these and related areas of customer engagement,” said MakeMyTrip India co-founder and CEO Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder & CEO – MakeMyTrip India.
Mygola.com covers more than 20,000 destinations worldwide and sees around five lakh organic visitors every month.
Mygola CEO Anshuman Bapna, who founded the company with Prateek Sharma in 2009, said, “MakeMyTrip is the leader in one of the world’s most exciting travel markets, and the (Mygola) team is super-excited to bring all this knowledge to the millions of MakeMyTrip travellers.”
Summer opening for Heathrow T5 lounge
April 21 (TravelAndy): The first independent lounge at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 will open this summer and will be available to all passengers regardless of their travel class, the airport said in a statement.
Heathrow authorities expect a good response to this venture considering the high volume of passengers in the terminal taking connecting flights. Located near Gate 18, the lounge intends to cater to the independent traveler who wants to relax.
“We’re incredibly proud to welcome the Aspire lounge and spa to Terminal 5,” said Heathrow property director Stephen Wilkinson.
The lounge is a joint venture of Collinson Group and Swissport.
EUR100 awaits 5 ‘Wingsie’ contest winners
April 20 (TravelAndy): European budget airline Ryanair is giving away EUR100 vouchers to five lucky winners to mark its debut on Instagram.
The airline, which joined Instagram on April 15, is operating through the account @Ryanair.
“Customers should simply perform their best airplane impersonation and post their ‘Wingsie’ photo on Instagram, tagging @Ryanair and including the hashtags #wingsie and #Ryanair30,” the airline said in a statement.
“To celebrate our Instagram launch, we’re giving away five EUR100 flight vouchers,” the airline’s head of communications Robin Kiely said.
Qantas to fly Perth-Singapore from June 26
April 19 (Travelandy): Qantas is set to resume operations on the Perth-Singapore route from June 26.
The airline will operate five return flights a week, totalling nearly 1,700 seats.
“We’re delighted to be able to offer the Perth-Singapore route with a schedule and aircraft type that will make it commercially viable,” Mr Evans said, adding that Boeing 737 will be used for this sector.
“The service from Perth will arrive into Singapore at 5.20pm providing excellent connections with our airline partners into key regional Asia destinations including Tokyo, Shanghai and Delhi subject to regulatory approval,” Evans said.
Launch fares will start from AUD199 one way, the company said.
NewLeaf eyes Hamilton hub
April 17 (TravelAndy): Proposed Canada-based ultra low-cost airline NewLeaf Travel intends to make Hamilton a hub, said CBC.
“The idea is that we are trying to lower the airfares,” said former Frontier vice-president and chief marketing officer of NewLeaf Jim Young. “We don’t like high-cost airports like Vancouver, Calgary, (Toronto) Pearson.”
Young said they had partnered with the existing Flair Airlines Ltd, which is based in Kelownam BC, to supply aircraft and crew.
NewLeaf is looking to start operations this summer.
With NewLeaf, three new players are now attempting to enter the ultra low-cost flying segment in Canada.
3.56 million to visit Thailand for Songkran
April 13 (TravelAndy): A record 3.56 million passengers are expected to go through major airports in Thailand during the Songkran holidays, Bangkok Post reported.
Over the 10-day Thai New Year period till April 19, the number of aircraft movements will increase proportionately. During this period, 22,224 flights will operate out of the six main airports operated by Airports of Thailand Plc, an increase of 13.3 per cent as compared to the same period last year.
The report attributed the relatively calm political atmosphere at this time and the country’s attraction as a major international holiday destination as the reasons for the surge in air passengers during this period.
Orlando-Havana flights from July
April 13 (TravelAndy): Non-stop flights between Orlando in Florida, US, and Havana, Cuba, will start operating on July 8, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority has said.
“With the changing dynamics in the relationship between the US and Cuban governments, we are pleased to offer these flight options to residents in Central Florida,” said Phil Brown, Executive Director of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
In the first phase, Island Travel & Tours will operate a weekly flight on Wednesdays. A Sunday flight will be added later in the summer.
UK: Public sector rail service could be 10% cheaper
April 13 (TravelAndy): Season tickets prices in the UK could decrease by as much as 10 per cent by 2017 if the the railway service was run by the public sector and not private parties, a campaign group Action for Rail has found.
Train ticket prices in Britain are among Europe’s costliest.
The group further says that between 2015 and 2020, the contracts on 11 train lines will come up for renewal and the government could save GBP1.5 billion if the public sector took over the reins.
Budget travellers will be keeping their fingers crossed about this one.
French help for faster Delhi-Chandigarh train
April 13 (TravelAndy): If things go to plan, the travel time between Delhi and Chandigarh by train will come down to less than two hours.
Indian Railways and its French counterpart signed a pact to this effect during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country, PTI reported.
The two countries will co-finance an execution study “a semi-high speed project on upgrade of the Delhi-Chandigarh line to 200kmph”.
At present, the fastest train on this route is the Shatabdi Express that takes nearly three-and-a-half hours to complete the 266km journey.
Canada: New ultra low-cost airline proposed
April 13 (Travelandy): A former executive of the US-based Frontier Airlines has proposed to launch an ultra low-cost airline based in Canada, the Globe and Mail reported.
The new airline, operated by the NewLeaf Travel Co. Inc, will operate from two secondary airports at Hamilton and Abbotsford and will look to fly to beach destinations in the US.
Former Frontier vice-president and chief marketing officer Jim Young said they had partnered with the existing Flair Airlines Ltd, which is based in Kelownam BC, to supply aircraft and crew.
“Our goal is to stay out of the large primary airports and focus on secondary airports because they represent lower-cost opportunities for us,” the report quoted Young as saying.
With NewLeaf, three new players are now attempting to enter the ultra low-cost flying segment in Canada.
Air tickets cheaper on Tuesdays: Expedia
April 13 (TravelAndy): Buying your flight ticket on Tuesdays is most likely to give you the best deal, says travel giant Expedia.
In a “comprehensive review of air travel data” brought out by the company, it says, “For years, based largely upon data from ticket purchases over time, industry insiders believed that the best day of the week to buy (i.e., the day of the week with the lowest average ticket prices) was Tuesday. A recent study by Expedia of air-ticket price data indicates that for travel booked more than three weeks in advance of departure date, Tuesday still appears, by the slimmest of margins, to be the best day of the week to buy.”
It must be remembered that this statement by Expedia is only based on statistics.
Airfares lowest for Tues & Wed flights
April 13 (TravelAndy): Airfares tend to be lowest for flights that depart on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, say experts of Airfarewatchdog, Cheapair and Expedia.
However, it is important to remember that this is not an exact science and these assumptions are only based on trends.
In a “comprehensive review of air travel data” brought out by travel giant Expedia, it says for short-haul trips, travelers can save up to 25 per cent by departing on Saturday and returning on Tuesday as compared to departing on Sunday and returning on Monday.
For long-haul flights, Expedia says, leaving on a Thursday and returning on Monday can prove 20 per cent cheaper than departing on Friday and returning on Saturday.