EGYPTAIR will commence thrice-weekly flights between New Delhi and Cairo in October despite weakened visitorship from India.

This comes on top of an existing four-times-weekly service to Mumbai.

Egypt’s tourism minister Hisham Za’zou commented: “Cultural tourism decreased during the last three years, especially in Luxor and Aswan. The ministry is now seeking to open new tourism markets like India to boost cultural tourism.”

Adel El Masry, director, Egyptian Tourism Office in India, said: “In 2010, about 170,000 Indian tourists visited Egypt while the 2013 count was 90,000. In 2014, Egypt expects about 100,000 Indian visitors.”

Tasneem Sharafally, director, Mumbai-based Global Destinations, said Indian traffic will return to Egypt as long as it is safe, because of “enduring” interest. “I expect about 25 per cent growth in 2015 with the help of these additional flights, if the destination is politically stable.”

JET Airways has announced a three-year turnaround plan to return to profitability through fleet consolidation by selling or leasing surplus aircraft, debt restructuring and expansion of profitable international operations.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Naresh Goyal, founder of the airline, said: “Jet Airways’ international operations are already profitable and contribute 45 per cent to total revenue. As part of our three-year turnaround plan we plan to increase this contribution to 63 per cent by 2015.”

Also present was James Hogan, CEO of Etihad Airways, which holds a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. “This is not an overnight turnaround plan but a structured rebuilding process. We are committed to return the airline back to profitability,” said Hogan, amid rising speculations that Etihad could raise its stake in the Indian carrier.

Focus areas for international operations will include network development to markets such as Europe, China, Australia and South-east Asia.

Domestically, Jet Airways will also reconfigure its fleet and boost connections to India’s smaller cities.

The two airlines today launched a new marketing campaign, Flying India Forward, across all media platforms, and have appointed Cramer Ball as Jet Airways’ new CEO and Subodh Karnik as COO.

Jet Airways has not been solvent since 2007, and reported a loss of US$689 million for the financial year ending March 2014.

RESPONDING to a ban on commercial airline operations at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport issued earlier this week by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Israel has opened Ovda Airport to international commercial flights instead.

Transportation minister Yisrael Katz said on Wednesday that foreign airlines have a choice of landing at Ovda, a military airfield that currently also serves civilian flights to popular resort destination Eilat.

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Israel’s Haaretz Newspaper, reported as of late last night that none of the airlines operating at Ben Gurion has decided to take up the offer.

However, the news site noted that Ovda has limited ability for civilian flights and is “usually not prepared” for wide-body aircraft landings. Additional manpower such as flight controllers, emergency firefighting and rescue crews is also required.

In the meantime, the FAA lifted its ban on flights to Israel late on Wednesday night after first extending the ban from originally 24 hours to 48. The US aviation agency issued the order after a rocket landed within a mile of Ben Gurion on Tuesday.

ABC News stated earlier that dozens of flights and hundreds of passengers were affected as international airlines including Air Canada, Lufthansa and Air France chose to follow the FAA’s guidelines. US-based carriers like US Airways, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines had already cancelled flights.

Said FAA in its latest statement: “Before making this decision, the FAA worked with its US government counterparts to assess the security situation in Israel and carefully reviewed both significant new information and measures the government of Israel is taking to mitigate potential risks to civil aviation.

“The FAA’s primary mission and interest are the protection of people traveling on US airlines. The agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion airport and will take additional actions, as necessary.”

Separately, the European Aviation Safety Agency on Tuesday also “strongly” recommended that airlines refrain from flying to Ben Gurion airport. Air France has suspended flights “until further notice” and Lufthansa has cancelled Thursday flights.

*This article has been updated as the FAA lifted the ban on flights to Israel on Thursday afternoon, Singapore time.

TRANSASIA Airways flight GE222 crash landed in a residential area near Magong airport on the Penghu island chain in Taiwan yesterday, claiming the lives of at least 40 travellers.

According to news agency AFP, the ATR 72-500 was carrying 58 people including four crew members and four children from Kaohsiung to the islands on Taiwan’s west coast.

Bad weather as Typhoon Matmo streaked through Taiwan prompted a delayed landing by the aircraft, and it was on the second attempt to land at Matmo airport that it crashed into houses in the village of Sisi.

AFP quoted Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration director general, Shen Chi, as saying 51 people were thought to have perished in the accident, but later revised the figure to 47.

Lee Yi-liang and co-pilot Chiang Kuan-hsin, who between them had chalked up over 20,000 flight hours, piloted the flight, said the AFP report.

Aircraft manufacturer ATR said in a statement that the circumstances of the accident are still under investigation, and that the Aviation Safety Council of Taiwan is taking the lead in this case.

TransAsia Airways also flies to Thailand, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Macau and Palau, and will launch Taiwan’s first LCC later this year.

HOTEL Clover 33 Jalan Sultan will debut in the Singapore market by 3Q2014, offering a total of 88 rooms housed within a row of 17 two-storey shophouses.

Close to Singapore’s vibrant Bugis district, the hotel boasts a rich, dark brown colour palette for a rustic feel with additional quirky touches. It offers six categories starting with the Select Queen to the top-end Garden King Suite.

All rooms and suites come with free mini bar, coffee- and tea-making facilities, and unlimited local calls and Internet access.

Facilities at the hotel include a gym, a lounge on the ground floor and the all-day dining restaurant Clover Garden.