The required testing system for such code-share cooperation would begin at an early date, he said.

Code-share is a business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. A seat can be purchased on one airline but the flight is actually operated by a cooperating airline under a different flight number or code.

Air India is also in the process of entering into similar code-share arrangements with Air
China and Egypt Air in the near future, the official said.

Air India presently has code-shares with 12 world airlines. They are Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Air Mauritius, Austrian Airlines, South African Airways, Aeroflot, Sri Lankan Airlines, Swiss Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, British Midland and Turkish Airlines.

With Asiana, Air India proposes to expand the code-share agreement to freely include additional sectors on each other’s network, based on connectivity needs and approvals from the regulatory authorities.

Asiana Airways would also explore opportunities to fly to more destinations in India, subject to regulatory approvals.

Both carriers are also preparing to integrate their Frequent Flyer Programmes (FFP) for mutual benefit to allow a passenger flying Asiana to earn points on his or her Air India FFP and vice-versa. Asiana flights would also operate under an Air India code and vice-versa.

Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister, Government of Goa, who is also the state’s Finance Minister, proposed in the budget that all hotels are granted 50 per cent concession on tax payable during the off-season commencing from May 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012, subject to prompt payment of tax and filing of returns in time.

The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), which has been lobbying for such concessions, said the move will help in making monsoon packages more attractive as sky-rocketing air fares had forced off-season packages to be expensive. “Hoteliers will be able to pass the benefit of the concession directly to customers,” Ralph D’Souza, Spokesperson, TTAG said.

Unofficial estimates reveal that around 1,500 medium and big hotels will benefit from the incentives, while smaller hotels are exempted from paying luxury tax. Last year’s off-season was blessed with long weekends, which saved the industry from facing losses, D’Souza said, adding that average occupancy was around 75 per cent during weekends and approximately 60 per cent during weekdays.

Laila and her husband, Hamed, who are from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are regular visitors to Delhi and Mumbai. Hamed is a travel operator looking to increase his presence in India and lure more Indians to the UAE amid increasing affluence in India.

“We’ve been coming to the country [India] at least two or three times a year for the past five years,” she told The Media Line. “For me it is travel, but for my husband, it is business.”

It is no longer uncommon in India’s biggest cities and tourist destinations to see black-clad Arab women in shops, haggling with the locals over 50 rupees ($1). But they are just one aspect of burgeoning commercial ties between India and the federation of Gulf emirates that runs the gamut from merchandise trade, tourism, investment and labor exports.
Indeed, for the UAE, it is India rather than China that is the preeminent economic partner. In 2011, two-way trade between India and Dubai – the emirate that acts as the confederation’s entrepot, reached 206 billion dirhams ($56 billion), more than double China’s 100 billion dirhams. India accounted for nearly a fifth of Dubai’s total, according to Dubai customs.
Over 1.75 million Indians live in the UAE, making it the confederation’s largest expatriate community. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has 20,038 Indian companies registered. UAE investors have pumped some $2 billion into India in areas ranging from energy, computer services and programming to construction and tourism, making the tiny confederation the 10th-largest foreign investor in India.
In fiscal 2010-2011, trade between India and the UAE crossed $67 billion, according to Indian government figures, yielding India a badly needed surplus as $34 billion of Indian exports reached the UAE and $32 billion worth of UAE exports were shipped to India. Trade, social and cultural ties between the two sides go back centuries.
Strangely for two countries with no significant gold deposits, it is the yellow metal that constitutes a large part of the trade.Gold is Dubai’s biggest trade item, with imports and exports worth a total of $39 billion last year, most of that with India. Major Indian exports to Dubai include gems and jewellery, petroleum products, machinery and instruments, much of it for re-export.
Wearing an expensive business suit, a sparkly watch and hair perfectly coiffed, Hamed Al-Uthman exudes the aura of wealth that Indian partners look for in their Middle East counterparts. He has been meeting with Delhi travel operators to develop travel packages.

His efforts will likely be helped by the four-day-long Arabian Travel Market 2012 exhibition, which opens April 30 in Dubai and will be showcasing India. The India pavilion will be highlighting luxury, wildlife and medical tourism in India, according to Vikas Rustagi, the regional director for India Tourism, Dubai.

“It’s interesting to watch the past few years as Emiratis and other people in the UAE travel to India more and more, because it offers a lot of shopping and nice hotels, while Indians are coming to the UAE for our shopping,” says Al-Uthman. “But what is most exciting now is how the governments are getting involved.”

Earlier this month, India’s Foreign Affairs Minister SM Krishna was in the Gulf to promote trade and tourism, and signed agreements ending double taxation and boosting consular services – issues that had been trouble spots for India and the Gulf region. At a joint news conference with his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the two talked about a broad strategy of trade and investment over the coming years.
“Looking at the trajectory of India’s [annual] growth of 7-8%, India has to expand the imports of oil and gas sourced from countries like the UAE, with whom we enjoy extraordinary ties,” Krishna said. Sheikh Abdullah suggested that the time had arrived to “push forward the UAE-India relationship in new ways”.
Expecting to invest around a trillion dollars over the next decade in infrastructure alone, India is looking to the UAE for financing. Sheikh Abdullah is due to visit India this month to examine the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest of the UAE members, investing in India.
“With India, we have a market of over one billion people. That is a vast number of people who we can start to work with and develop bilateral relations between the two sides to increase how we can do business,” says Al-Uthman.  “I have seen a lot of optimism here for travel between both countries, and just look at my wife and friends, they love to come to India.”

Economic ties have come hand in hand with closer political and even sports links.

India carries a chip on its shoulder in the Arab world because of its rivalry with Muslim Pakistan and disputes over the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir, which India controls and Pakistan claims for itself.

Nevertheless, India is already dealing with UAE on defense issues. There have been goodwill visits by Indian Navy ships to the UAE from time to time and in recent years, bilateral defense cooperation has been strengthened.

Cricket has also brought the two countries together, with India having played numerous matches against Pakistan in the UAE emirate of Sharjah.

Ramesh Jawad, an Indian Tourism Ministry spokesman, told The Media Line that New Delhi sees the UAE as a partner for developing its tourism industry to cater not only to UAE travelers but for high-end tourism generally. New Delhi wants to expand its travel industry from such heavy reliance on the backpacking community.

“Unlike Iran and Saudi Arabia, for example, the UAE has so many opportunities. The country continues to invest and develop infrastructure on a large scale,” he says. “We can learn a lot on how to increase our own tourism sector for the upper classes who want to come to India but where there aren’t a lot of high-end travel packages.”

With that market segment in mind, his ministry is offering reduced taxes and easier regulations for businessmen like Al-Uthman to take advantage of.

Al-Uthman says that many of his colleagues in the UAE travel industry see the Indian market as an almost Shangri-la for travel, where developing high-end packages for the elite in the UAE could bring in billions of dollars annually for both countries.

“If we look at the current trends, more and more people are looking at India as a cheap destination,” he explains. “But for UAE families and the more affluent, they still would like to stay in places that give them the same standards they have at home. India has developed this sector tremendously in recent years, but now we have to push forward by partnering to make it a reality.”

Wives, Al-Uthman says, will be an important factor in this process. “If we can convince women in the UAE that traveling to India is a great opportunity, for shopping among other things, travel could be a key economic benefit for both business and people.”

The domestic tourism industry seems quite upbeat about making the most of the opportunity that the slow down in Europe and America thrown up. “It isn’t affecting our business,” said Manan Mahajan, vice-president, Yatra Exotic Rule, the inbound vertical of Yatra.com. “On the contrary, we are looking at the slowdown as an opportunity. The tight economic condition in the West is bringing in cost correction and this way we are learning and adapting to provide value for money.”

Riding on innovative packages, the inbound tour organisers expect to double foreigner travelers from around 4,500 last year to 10,000 passengers this year.

Most feel that infrastructure in the country is a big hurdle to growth of the sector. But, industry experts globally see India as an exotic location and for experience-based travelers, infrastructure will never be an issue. Experts present at the mart believe moving ahead from traditional markets such as Europe, America and West Asia, India will see a huge influx from countries including, Russia, Africa and South America.

But experts say this may not be enough to save the cash-squeezed company.

Its shares surged last week on hopes that the cabinet could soon agree to give foreign carriers the green light to invest — a move that could throw a lifeline to the airline controlled by billionaire liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

But Kingfisher, which has never made a profit since it was created in 2005, is in urgent need of as much as $600 million to stay in business, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a consultancy firm, said.

“Without these funds, its survival is extremely challenging,” said CAPA’s South Asia chief executive Kapil Kaul.

Kingfisher, which has shut down its overseas operations and slashed domestic flights, desperately needs the cash infusion to pay the millions of dollars it owes to suppliers, lenders and other creditors.

Mallya is strongly rooting for the new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy which could be Kingfisher’s last chance of survival.

But the policy move is “like the government calling his bluff”, said Sonam Udasi, head of research with IDBI Capital.

Udasi said foreign investors may show interest in some Indian airlines on hopes they will start making money at some point, but better-managed carriers such as the low-cost SpiceJet would likely be more attractive.

Kaul added that investor interest in India’s embattled aviation industry was “limited” due to high fuel taxes and poor airline balance sheets.

India logged the second-best air traffic growth at 12.3 percent in the world after Brazil in February, according to global airline body IATA.

The cash-strapped airline stopped flights to Dubai, Kathmandu, Colombo and Bangkok on 25 March.

India’s tax authorities last week asked the airline to pay $11.84m (£7.4m) owing in service tax.

The airline’s bank accounts were frozen in February for non-payment of taxes. They were unfrozen earlier this month.

Kingfisher owes money to airports, tax authorities, lenders and its own staff.

Workers called off a planned strike on 3 April after an assurance from the airline that they would be paid.

The airline has cancelled dozens of flights recently due to its financial situation.

It suspended most international operations and cut down on local routes. Its last overseas flight is due to arrive in London at 1810 BST on Tuesday.

The airline has never made a profit since it was launched in 2005.

Director of tourism Swapnil Naik said more than 27 lakh tourists visited Goa during the last one year, which is “marginally” more than the previous year. “Last year, there was a major increase in the number of tourists,” he said. There was a major increase in tourist flow during the last monsoon because of a number of long weekends. The monsoon was earlier considered as the off-season, but that has been changing and the figures have now increased substantially.” “Till March-end this year, there had been 849 charter flights and the figure is expected to cross the 900 mark by the end of the season,” Naik said.

Although the numbers have been rising, many feel there has been a qualitative decline. John Rodrigues has been a cruise boat operator for around two decades. Apart from the dolphin spotting, crocodile watching boat trips, he also operates houseboats along the Siolim-Colvale river which take guests on backwater cruises. “Overall, the season has been good. But the spending power of the tourists is slowly eroding. We are not attracting the same quality of tourists that we would previously attract,” he said.

Why is that? “Somebody who has come 10 years ago, now finds that the beach has become dirtier,” says Rodrigues. That visitor has other international options and he/she soon discourages his/her friends from coming to Goa, creating a negative ripple effect. But he added, “Maybe in the years ahead the quality of the tourists will increase with more infrastructure.”

The tourism industry in Goa has managed to work around this problem by targeting new markets abroad, to compensate for the fall in visitors from the older markets like the UK.

Rodrigues also feels that eco-tourism has not been adequately tapped. “People are looking at going back to nature and more people should come out in Goa and provide these activities, rather than only looking at beach tourism,” he said.

According to India’s tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahai a promotional media blitzkerg showcasing brand ‘Incredible India’, will be splashed all over the South American landscape.

Sahai, said the government was looking at using the BRICS (a collaborative among the countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) connection to help push forward the campaign.

“We are looking at the FIFA World Cup for big-time advertisement of India as a tourist destination as part of our plans to market India. The idea is to garner as many eyeballs as possible,” Sahai said.

“Brazil will share its expertise with the other two in Beach Tourism while South Africa will focus on national parks and Eco-Tourism. India will provide inputs on Rural Tourism,” the Minister said speaking of joint tourism promotion efforts.

The comments come not too long after the BRICS summit in New Delhi held last week.

The Football World Cup is just one among many events in BRICS countries that India plans to use to promote tourism.

“Compared to many other parts of the world, BRICS is better equipped to deal with tourism as they have more experience. What’s more, we will be partnering half the world,” Sahai added.

The five BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — make up half the world’s population, are the fastest growing economies of the world and make up nearly a fifth of the world’s economic output.

“We are also looking at advertising during the London Olympics in July 2012,” said Sahai adding that the year 2013 could be declared as the India-China Tourism year provided diplomatic relations between the two countries do not strain.

In its 12th five-year plan (2012-2017), India wants to increase its international tourism arrivals by one percentage point. This would involve a growth of 12 percent per year in the sector over the next five years.

Matanhy Saldanha, who was also a tourism minister in the Manohar Parrikar-led government after being elected for the first time in 2002, was rushed to a nearby city hospital after he complained of chest pain.

According to a statement issued after the board meeting, Air India would shortly appoint a service provider. It will source the supply as well as provide the necessary infrastructure for storage and distribution of the same for in-plane fuelling.

Meanwhile, the company claimed its financial and operating performance up to February had improved significantly. Passenger revenue in February went up to Rs 949 crore from Rs 718 crore in February 2011, an increase of 32.2 per cent, the airline said in a statement.

The total number of passengers who flew Air India also went up from 0.962 million in February 2011 to 1.091 million in February 2012, registering an increase of 13.4 per cent. Air India expects to end the year with higher than budgeted performance in revenues.

However, the escalating fuel cost is likely to add Rs 2,200 crore to its fuel bill, which is estimated to be around Rs 8,000 crore for 2011-12. Additional interest cost of Rs 1,500 crore also eroded its profitability, the airline said.

The board also approved the capital budget for 2012-13, which was in line with the annual plan outlay of the company involving a capital outlay of over Rs 400 crore on non-aircraft projects.

The bridge financing of the two 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which would be raised from Standard Chartered Bank, of $195 million, was also approved by the board. The bridge financing is expected to be closed soon.