Tourists rush to Goa undeterred by swine flu

Flu scare across the country has failed to dampen the tourist inflow in Goa as enthusiasts are still thronging the beaches during weekends, officials said. Goa State Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) said that the state has a bed capacity of 40,000 and most of its hotels have a very good occupancy. The GTDC officials also denied any reports of Flu affecting the tourist inflow in the state. "There is absolutely no need to raise apprehensions. Goa will have around 35,000 tourists visiting this weekend itself," GTDC Deputy Chairman Lyndon Monteiro said. The industry sources also rubbished rumours of weekend travellers cancelling their trips to the coastal state in view of the Swine Flu scare.

"Swine Flu has not yet affected the tourism industry. All the hotels have high occupancy and there is no dearth of weekend tourists visiting here," Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) President Ralf D'Souza said. "Goa is much safer place compared to rest of the cities. The situation here is much under control and hence this is a good reason for the tourists to come here," he said. The tiny coastal state receives around 24 lakh tourists annually including 20 lakh domestic tourists, who flock to the beaches on long weekends.

AirAsia to start Kuala Lumpur-Kolkata flights

Three years after Malaysia Airlines withdrew operations from Kolkata after servicing the sector for only a year, Kuala Lumpur-based low-cost airline, AirAsia, is set to revive the connection between the Malaysian capital and Kolkata with daily flights from November 7. AirAsia is Asia's largest low-fare, no-frills carrier that began operations in 1996. It will operate a 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft. The incoming flight AK 203 will touch down at the city airport at 4.30 pm. The return flight, AK 204, will take off for Kuala Lumpur half an hour later.

The revival of flights to Malaysia comes as a huge boost to the sagging fortunes of international traffic from Kolkata with JetStar Asia, British Airways, Gulf Air, Royal Jordanian, KLM and even Air India deserting the city. Among carriers that have touched down are Emirates, Air India Express, Bangladeshi private carriers and international wings of Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. The travel trade fraternity has also welcomed the flight's introduction and believes its convenient schedule will ensure that it does not go the way Malaysia Airlines did.

Air India aircraft makes precautionary landing at Kolkata

An Air India Kolkata-Hyderabad flight with 31 passengers on board on Saturday made a "precautionary" landing at the NSC Bose International airport at Kolkata half an hour after take-off as the pilot was alerted by an alarm about technical fault in the aircraft. The flight, IC-7217, which also had a four-member took from the airport at 5:15 pm but returned half an hour later after the alarm, airport sources said. The pilot informed the Air Traffic Control and the aircraft was allowed to return and make a "precautionary" landing, one of the three categories of landing in aviation parlance.

The plane was taken to an isolation bay and the passengers disembarked. However, no ambulance or fire fighter was requisitioned as is the normal practice during emergency landing. Airport sources said the passengers and crew are safe. An investigation is on to find out why the alarm went off and what for, said the sources. The passengers were later accommodated in a Kolkata-Bangalore flight which took off at 6:15 pm.