Thailand relaxes entry restrictions as Covid fear fades

Radhika Bansal

21 Jan 2022

Thailand will resume a quarantine-free visa program for vaccinated visitors starting in February, as the tourism-reliant nation shifts its focus to economic recovery following ease in new Covid-19 infections. 

International travellers from all countries can apply for visas under the so-called Test & Go entry program from February 1, the government said after a meeting of its main Covid task force on Thursday, January 20. Visitors will be required to undergo two Covid tests after arrival, one upon entry and another on the fifth day. 

“We can no longer close our borders as the economic costs will be too high,” Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said. “Reopening and managing the outbreak need to go hand in hand.”  

Thailand relaxes entry restrictions as Covid fear fades

Thailand has experimented with several visa, quarantine and tourism programs over the past two years to support a sector that contributed about one-fifth of GDP before the pandemic, with 40 million foreign tourists generating more than USD 60 billion in 2019.

The Southeast Asian nation suspended its quarantine-free program in late December after spikes in the omicron variant were detected among foreign arrivals and in several local communities. 

While Thailand did see a jump in new cases after the Christmas and New Year holidays, the numbers are far below the peak tallies during the delta wave and have yet to overwhelm the healthcare system. The halting of the entry scheme, in concert with more vaccinations and tightening of local restrictions, helped keep the situation manageable, officials said. 

While Thailand did see a jump in new cases after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The decision to revive the quarantine-free travel program is in line with the government’s call to treat Covid-19 as endemic and efforts to revive an industry that employs millions of people. 

“The resumption of this program, which is expected to bring in more foreign tourists, can help strengthen the fragile economic recovery,” said Nattaporn Triratanasirikul, an economist at the research unit of Kasikornbank Pcl, which forecasts about 4 million arrivals from overseas this year. 

“The government needs to find a way for the economy to run on its own, so they can reduce fiscal support,” the economist said. “They can’t afford to borrow such a huge amount of money like before.”

The Test & Go program, which previously allowed vaccinated travellers from about 60 countries to skip quarantine, helped attract about 350,000 visitors in just two months before it was suspended. Narrower visa plans have involved so-called Sandbox systems, under which people could arrive and remain in specific destinations like Phuket and Koh Samui with limited restrictions.  

The government also currently allows entry to visitors who quarantine for seven to 10 days in approved hotels or join "sandbox" programs in areas such as the resort island of Phuket where they have freedom of movement during a seven-day quarantine period.

(With Inputs from Bloomberg)

Read next

Tata Sons may require Air India to pay a royalty for the use of their brand name

Radhika Bansal

21 Jan 2022

Air India, which will be housed under Tata Sons' subsidiary Talace following the handover by the government at the end of this month, may have to pay a royalty to Tata Sons for using the Tata brand name, according to a report published by The Economic Times.

The final handover formalities of Air India from the government to the Tata group includes putting in place arrangements for the payment of brand royalty charges to Tata Sons as owners of the acquired airline entity.

(Image Courtesy - Business Insider India)

"A newly formed board committee for Air India is currently discussing the possibilities of using the Tata brand name for Air India, and if they do, Air India will have to pay the royalty."

Employees of Air India have to sign the Tata Code of Conduct once it comes into the Tata fold. The usage of the Tata branding is therefore inevitable," according to an official familiar with the matter. "Vistara and Air Asia haven't paid royalty to Tata Sons because they do not use the Tata branding," the official added.

Under the Tata Brand Equity and Business Promotion (TBEBP) scheme, group companies using the Tata brand have to pay 0.25% of annual revenue or five per cent of the profit before tax. The brand Air India, which will be untouched for five years, may include a tagline of a Tata Enterprise or Tata Airline.

"It does not matter if an entity using the Tata brand name is loss-making, the royalty payment is charged on the revenues generated, not on profits made", a Tata group official said.

The transfer of Air India to the Tata Group has been delayed to January 31 due to procedural delays in the finalisation of the company's balance sheet and some approvals from international regulators.

"This is a quirky and convoluted twist for sure. Out here there is a brand that belonged to the Tatas, went to the GoI. Returned to the Tatas this year. The brand identity remains Air India with a label of new ownership of the Tatas slapped back onto it. And then of course there is the issue of royalty the brand needs to pay!This is a fair practice across the globe, where the mother brand is used by a disparate set of companies for market advantage. Therefore if Air India is to pay in royalty to the mother brand TATA, its practice falls within bounds."Harish Bijoor, Business and Brand Strategy Specialist

An estimated eight brand logos would be transferable to the Tatas which they have to retain for five years.

The TBEBP is nearly a three-decade-old brand philosophy under which group companies under the Tata umbrella need to pay a fee for the use of the brand.

(With Inputs from The Economic Times)

Read next

American Airlines flight bound for London is diverted back to Miami after a passenger refuses to wear mask

Radhika Bansal

21 Jan 2022

An American Airlines flight headed to London returned to Miami less than an hour after taking off, after a passenger refused to follow the federal requirement to wear a face mask, according to the airline.

The airline called Miami police, and officers escorted a woman off the plane at Miami International Airport on Wednesday evening without incident. A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department said American Airlines staff dealt administratively with the passenger.

The woman was put on American's internal no-fly list pending further investigation, an airline spokesman said. Airlines have frequently banned passengers for the duration of the pandemic if they refuse to follow mandatory mask requirements designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

American said there were 129 passengers and 14 crew members on the plane. Pilots turned the Boeing 777 around less than an hour into the transatlantic flight, according to tracking service FlightAware.

Airlines reported nearly 6,000 incidents involving unruly passengers last year and 151 in the first two weeks of this year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Most of them involved passengers who refused to wear masks.

Reports of unruly behaviour on planes surged to a record 5,981 last year, more than 71% tied to disputes over a federal mask mandate that went into effect early last year, though airlines had required them since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Some incidents included physical assault against crews. In October 2021, an American Airlines flight attendant was hospitalized after a passenger allegedly struck her in the face, forcing the cross-country flight to divert.

In January 2021, the FAA announced a "zero-tolerance" policy for unruly passenger behaviour that skips warnings or counselling and goes directly to penalties, which can include heavy fines and jail time.

It is unclear whether the passenger involved in the incident on AA flight 38 will face enforcement action from the FAA. The FAA has civil authority to propose fines up to USD 37,000 per violation for unruly passenger cases. The agency does not have the authority for criminal prosecution.

Read next

Airbus responds to Qatar Airways's A350 dispute by cancelling A321 Order

Radhika Bansal

21 Jan 2022

Airbus on Thursday, January 20 raised the stakes in a dispute with one of its largest customers, Qatar Airways, over grounded and undelivered A350 jets by announcing it had revoked a separate contract for 50 smaller A321s the airline needs to open new routes.

The move is expected to deepen a dispute that moved closer towards a rare courtroom clash on Thursday, January 20, with a procedural hearing over Qatar’s claim for USD 600 million in compensation over A350 flaws pencilled in for the week of April 26 in London.

Qatar Airways A321 (Image Courtesy - International Flight Network)

Airbus revealed it was walking away from the contract for A321neos in skeletal arguments presented during a scheduling session over the A350 dispute at a division of Britain’s High Court, people familiar with the matter said.

“We confirm we did terminate the contract for 50 A321s with Qatar Airways by our rights,” an Airbus spokesman said following a filing setting out provisional arguments, reported earlier by Bloomberg News.

Qatar Airways is expected to fight the A321 contract’s termination, has said it plans to take delivery of the jets even though it is refusing to take more A350s until a dispute over surface erosion on the larger planes has been resolved.

The airline had no immediate comment on the A321 contract.

The A321 order stems from a deal first signed some 10 years ago which was then worth USD 4.6 billion at list prices. It was later modified to switch 10 of the A321s to a newer version.

Qatar Airways has said the A321s will help it launch flights to new markets where there is currently not enough demand for larger aircraft, but which are out of reach of smaller A320s.

The planemaker said these decisions were carried out “apparently at the instigation” of Qatar Airways but didn’t offer specifics. Demand for air travel has been depressed for two years because of the pandemic, especially on the long-distance routes that intersect at Gulf hubs like Doha.

For its part, Qatar Airways is seeking resolution of the dispute in time to use grounded A350 aircraft at the centre of the row for the soccer World Cup later in 2022.

Qatar Airways is the main sponsor for the soccer World Cup later in 2022.

Grounding Dispute

The two companies have been locked in a row for months over A350 damage including blistered paint, cracked window frames or riveted areas and erosion of a layer of lightning protection.

Qatar Airways says its national regulator has ordered it to stop flying 21 out of its 53 A350 jets as problems appeared, prompting a bitter dispute with Airbus which has said that while it acknowledges technical problems, there is no safety issue.

Qatar Airways is seeking USD 618 million in compensation for the 21 grounded jets plus USD 4 million a day as the row drags on. The Gulf carrier is also asking British judges to order France-based Airbus not to attempt to deliver any more of the jets until what it describes as a design defect has been fixed.

ALSO READ - Qatar airways sue Airbus for USD 618mn over A350 paint issue

Airbus has said it will “deny in total” the complaint and has accused Qatar Airways, once one of its most highly courted customers, of mislabeling the problem as a safety concern.

It has indicated it will argue that state-owned Qatar Airways influenced its regulator to ground the jets to win compensation, while Qatar Airways has questioned the design and accused Airbus of failing to produce studies, the people said.

Qatar Airways has said its local regulator is independently driving safety decisions and cannot evaluate the airworthiness of the affected jets without a deeper analysis from Airbus.

The paint flaw in Qatar Airways' A350 (Image Courtesy - Reuters)

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency, which is responsible for the overall design but not the locally regulated airworthiness of individual planes in service, has said it has not so far found safety problems with A350s that it inspected. Qatar is so far the only country to ground some of the jets.

But a Reuters investigation in November 2021 revealed at least five other airlines had discovered paint or surface flaws since 2016, prompting Airbus to set up an internal task force before the Qatar row and to explore a new A350 anti-lightning design.

ALSO READ - Qatar Airways takes Airbus to London High Court over A350 skin damage

ALSO READ - In a paint dispute with Qatar Airways, Airbus goes legal

(With Inputs from Reuters)

Read next

India getting ready to roll out smart passports fitted with e-chips soon

Prashant-prabhakar

21 Jan 2022

India is all set to issue smart e-passports with secure biometric data- an announcement made by Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. The passport was unveiled at India Security Press, Nashik.

Northeast Now

Bhattacharyya added that the new passports would significantly ease passage through immigration check-ins and will be compliant with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Currently, India issues passports for its citizens in printed booklets.

The idea of a chip-secured biometric passport for Indians is not new. Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar had earlier said that the government was in talks with India Security Press about the feasibility and applicability of the project.

We propose to pursue the manufacture of e-passports on priority so that a new passport booklet with advanced security features can be rolled out in the near future.Jaishankar

Old Passport Vs New

The new smart e-passports would contain personal particulars of the applicants digitally signed and stored in a chip which would be embedded in the passport booklet. Any form of tampering with the chip will be detected by the system and shall lead to a failed passport authentication.

Trak.in

The contract for the manufacturing of the electronic chip inlays in the passport jacket, which of course, would be ICAO-compliant in all capacities, has been awarded to India Security Press, Nashik. Apparently, these contactless inlays are critical for issuing e-passports that are powered by chips. Issuance of e-Passports will commence on the successful completion of the procurement process by ISP, Nashik.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is a significant partner for the MEA to transform the passport issuance process in the country, will also adopt its systems for e-passports.

We will bring in the technology (for e-passport), but you know the sovereign functions like granting or printing of the passport booklet will continue with the governmentTej Bhatla, business unit head for public sector at TCS, told news agency PTI

Furthermore, he stated that it will not be a completely paper-free document as work like visa stamping will continue, but will definitely reduce the need for paper through automation wherever possible.

Although India does not yet issue biometric passports for its ordinary citizens, only the diplomats and other official passports have been biometrically secured since at least 2008, with this process in fruition, India will join the ranks of some 150 countries, including the UK, Germany, Bangladesh and others that issue biometric passports to ordinary citizens.

The three types of Indian Passport | Online Guider

Did you know? 1. Smt Pratibha Patil, the 12th president of India, who served from 25 July 2007 to July 2012, was the first person to be issued an e-passport.

AajTak

2. The Indian Passport just got stronger, climbing 7 places in the ranking, now providing visa-free access to 59 countries around the world-with Oman being the latest addition.

SOURCE(s)

COVER: The Times of India

Read next

Restrictions on non-scheduled flights at Delhi airport because of Republic Day

Radhika Bansal

21 Jan 2022

Restrictions have been imposed at the Delhi airport on charter flights and airlines' non-scheduled flights due to approaching Republic Day on January 26, stated a notice to airmen (NOTAM) issued by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

No landing or take-off will be permitted from the Delhi airport for airlines' non-scheduled flights and general aviation companies' charter flights between 10:15 AM - 01:15 PM till January 24, the NOTAM noted.

On Republic Day itself, non-scheduled flights and charter flights will not be allowed to land or take off from the Delhi airport between 7 AM - 1 PM and between 2 PM - 06:30 PM, it mentioned.

On January 29, due to Beating the Retreat ceremony, non-scheduled flights and charter flights will not be permitted to land or take off from the Delhi airport between 4 PM - 7 PM, it noted.

There will be no impact of NOTAM on the aircraft of the Indian Air Force, Border Security Force and the Indian Army's aviation wing, it mentioned.

"State-owned aircraft or helicopter can fly with the governor or chief minister of state," it noted. Scheduled flights of airlines will operate as usual, it mentioned.

Because of Republic Day, the historic Red Fort will remain closed for people for five days from January 22-26 due to security reasons. The Delhi Police took to Twitter to inform the citizens.

Red Fort (Image Courtesy - Britannica)

"Because of Republic Day, the Red Fort shall remain closed for public and general visitors from January 22, 2022, to January 26, 2022, due to security reasons," it tweeted.

There is a three-layered security system in place for the Republic Day celebration and the force is always alert and undertakes anti-terror measures especially ahead of any event of national importance, the Delhi Police said.

Citing the recent security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy in Punjab, the Delhi Police officers said that the force is extra vigilant to ensure no such incident happens in the national capital.

Comment