| Flights to Europe, Southeast Asia booked solid
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| If you had plans to spend Christmas or the New Year in Southeast Asia or Europe, you can kiss them goodbye.
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| Travel agents and airlines say bookings on these sectors for the December-January period are 15-20 per cent higher than last year, and no seats are available.
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| “Outbound bookings for Europe and Southeast Asia are up 23 per cent over last year. This has led to a massive seat crunch, and as of now, no tickets are available on these sectors for the holiday season,” said Ankur Bhatia, managing director (Indian subcontinent), Amadeus, a global travel solutions provider.
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| Vikas Khanduri, regional manager (outbound leisure travel ), Cox & Kings, said tickets for the season were sold by the beginning of November, compared with November-end or early December in other years.
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| “For us, bookings for Europe and Southeast Asia are up 50 per cent. Since all seats are booked on these sectors, people will have to look at domestic destinations,” he said.
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| According to travel agents, though the open sky policy has been announced, none of the airlines has enhanced its seat capacity till now.
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| “The government has given a very short notice for the offer, so it is difficult for some airlines to change their schedules now. Moreover, capacity on some sectors has to be increased 25 per cent to meet the demand,” said Balbir Mayal, president, Travel Agents Association of India.
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| It is due to logistics that Thai Airways has not been able to take a decision about increasing flights, while British Airways has decided not to avail of the offer.
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| British Airways executives said though bookings for the holiday season were up 20 per cent over last year, it was impossible for the airline to change its international schedule and add flights to India at such short notice.
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| “We have written to the ministry of civil aviation to introduce an open sky policy throughout the year, so that we can align our international schedules accordingly,” a British Airways executive said.
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| Industry sources said among the European carriers, only Lufthansa would be adding four flights to Bangalore during the season. Mayal said bookings for Europe had gone up 10-15 per cent this year, resulting in a seat shortage.
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| Thai Airways, which has also witnessed a 10-15 per cent spurt in bookings this year, faces a similar predicament.
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| Airline executives said since there was an increase in inbound traffic from Thailand to India this year, it would have been ideal to increase capacity from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
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| Malaysia has seen the maximum growth of 25 per cent in bookings for the winter holiday season, and has also asked the government for permission to add flights from Bangalore and Mumbai. |
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