People flee their homes near Cambodia-Thailand border in Oddar Meanchey province on July 26, 2025. Photo: AFP
Bangkok: Amid rising tensions between Thailand and Cambodia along the border, India issued a travel advisory to its citizens on Friday, advising them to exercise caution and avoid travelling to seven provinces under threat. The seven provinces not recommended for visiting are: Ubon Ratchathani, Surin, Sisaket, Buriram, Sa Kaeo, Chanthaburi and Trat.
The Indians in Thailand are advised to contact the provincial offices of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) for assistance with their travel-related matters.
In view of the situation near Thailand-Cambodia border, all Indian travelers to Thailand are advised to check updates from Thai official sources, including TAT Newsroom.
As per Tourism Authority of Thailand places mentioned in the following link are not recommended for… https://t.co/ToeHLSQUYi
— India in Thailand (@IndiainThailand) July 25, 2025
The Indian embassy in the Thai capital urged all Indian travellers to check updates from authorities in the country before visiting tourist attractions in the Thailand-Cambodia border. The fighting between Thai and Cambodian troops began on Thursday. According to reports, 16 people have been killed and thousands have been evacuated to safer places on both sides of the border.
In view of the situation near the Thailand-Cambodia border, all Indian travellers to Thailand are advised to check updates from Thai official sources, including TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) Newsroom, the Indian embassy said in a social media post. The embassy also attached a post by the TAT that urged travellers not to visit certain places in seven provinces.
Thailand is a popular destination for Indian tourists. The Southeast Asian nation has direct connectivity with more than 15 Indian cities with over 400 weekly flights operating between Thailand and India. All major airlines operate between the two countries.
In 2024, around 2.1 million Indian tourists visited Thailand, which is around six per cent of the total tourist inflow into Thailand, according to official data. The total number of Indian-origin people in Thailand is estimated to be around four to five lakh, including more than 25,000 NRIs, majority of whom are concentrated in the capital city, Bangkok.
NEW DELHI: Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s planned visit to India is likely to be delayed with UNSC yet to grant him the waiver he needs to travel to India. While Afghan media reported that the Security Council denied a waiver to Muttaqi, sources said dates for the visit have not been finalised. Because of UN travel ban imposed on the Taliban leader, India needs to get approval from the Council to facilitate his travel. TOI had reported on Aug 28 that Muttaqi was likely to visit India soon.Indian govt sources had then denied reports that India had sought a waiver, saying it will approach UNSC to lift the travel ban only after the dates for his visit are finalised. This would have been the first visit by a Taliban leader to India, as India’s ties with the regime in Kabul improve on the back of considerable humanitarian aid that India is providing Kabul. A proposed visit by Muttaqi to Pakistan was earlier cancelled after the Council denied him waiver from travel ban.EAM S Jaishankar spoke to Muttaqi last week and condoled the loss of lives in the recent earthquake, while also announcing India’s decision to send relief material. Looking to build upon improvement in the relationship, foreign secretary Vikram Misri had met Muttaqi in Dubai in Jan and conveyed India’s readiness to respond to the urgent developmental needs of Afghan people.This was followed by the first political contact between the two sides as Jaishankar spoke to Muttaqi in May. TNN
The airline industry is betting against Spirit Airlines.
PREMIUM Spirit has assured customers they can continue to book flights and use their tickets despite another bankruptcy filing.
Spirit’s biggest aircraft lessor last week told the carrier it was terminating lease agreements for some of its planes, helping tip the struggling discounter into its second bankruptcy in less than a year. Now, rival airlines are getting in position to go after the budget airline’s customers.
United Airlines, whose chief executive has predicted since last year that Spirit would eventually go under, is preparing to backfill the void that would be left if Spirit goes out of business by the end of this year. It is adding flights starting in January from Spirit strongholds such as Las Vegas as well as Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business it will be incredibly disruptive, so we’re adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s head of network planning and alliances.
Frontier, which is gunning for Spirit’s position as the largest U.S. ultradiscounter, has seized on Spirit’s pullback, announcing plans to add service along several routes Spirit serves.
“We want to be America’s low-fare airline,” said Frontier Chief Executive Barry Biffle. “And we see an opportunity.”
Spirit, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, has assured customers they can continue to book future flights and use their tickets. Chairman Robert Milton said in a recent interview the airline has no intention of liquidating: “It needs its costs restructured and to get its mojo back.”
Spirit for years played the role of an airline industry maverick, charging ultralow fares with fees for almost everything.
A Spirit spokesman on Thursday described United’s plans as “wishful thinking” from an airline that wants to drive a low-cost competitor out of business in order to charge more.
“While we appreciate the obsession certain airline executives have with us, we’re focused on competing and running a great operation,” he said.
But even a weakened Spirit is good news for competitors, which stand to benefit from reduced supply of seats.
In years past, Spirit has played the role of an industry maverick. It was willing to fly its bright yellow planes into big cities and go head-to-head with the legacy airlines. Its nickel-and-dime approach to sales—charging bargain basement fares with fees for almost everything—sometimes annoyed customers. But it also forced competitors to lower fares, and in many cases, adopt similar practices.
Now Spirit plans to shrink its fleet and retrench to key cities such as Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Detroit. It announced this week that it is pulling out of 11 cities and scrapping plans to add service to one more—about 4.5% of its planned flights.
A three-year saga of failed mergers, changing postpandemic travel patterns, and new competitive weapons deployed by big airlines brought Spirit to this point. Spirit’s losses since the beginning of 2020 have more than wiped out all the profits it made since 2006, when it shifted to embrace the ultradiscount model.
Struggling to find its footing after a federal judge last year struck down a $3.8 billion acquisition by JetBlue Airways, Spirit filed for its first bankruptcy in November. But it didn’t seek to use the power of chapter 11 to renegotiate contracts with aircraft lessors or other obligations, as other airlines have historically done after filing for bankruptcy.
The company opted instead for a quick balance-sheet fix that minimized its time spent under court protection, hoping to avoid a lengthy and expensive process. The earlier bankruptcy only affected Spirit bondholders, which swapped nearly $800 million in debt for equity ownership of the business, while leaving more than $2 billion of debt outstanding.
Spirit recently said it is pulling out of 11 cities and scrapping plans to add service to one more.
“Unfortunately, the industry-wide headwinds that preceded the Prior Chapter 11 Cases did not abate; rather, they intensified,” Chief Financial Officer Fred Cromer wrote in a court filing over the weekend. Instead of the $252 million in profit Spirit had projected for 2025, it reported in August that it had lost more than $256 million since mid-March.
Spirit had started to warn of its dire straits last month and was scrambling to bolster its cash balances. It drew down $275 million on its revolving credit facility and completed a series of sale-leaseback transactions in July and August that brought in approximately $250 million.
Then last week, AerCap, Spirit’s largest lessor, notified the carrier it was terminating leases for 36 planes scheduled for delivery in the coming years, and said Spirit was also in default on more than three dozen planes already in its fleet.
Worried that the disclosure of the notices would panic other creditors, the airline decided it had no choice but to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection again.
Spirit denied that it had defaulted on any of the leases. It said it is negotiating with AerCap to resolve the issue and is prepared to litigate the matter. An AerCap representative didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The company is burning through cash fast. Spirit disclosed a projection showing that it expects to burn $179 million for the first month of the bankruptcy case. Cromer said in court papers that the airline is continuing to work with certain bondholders on an agreement that would allow access to “significant additional liquidity.”
Spirit has said this time will be different.
In a bankruptcy court appearance Tuesday, Spirit lawyer Marshall Huebner characterized the recent filing as “really Spirit’s first chapter 11, not its second.” Spirit intends to use the powers of the bankruptcy code to walk away from certain contracts, shrink its aircraft fleet and reduce its operating costs, Huebner said in court.
Once the process is complete, “Spirit will once again be the disruptive maverick that has long challenged—and changed—the U.S. aviation industry,” Cromer wrote.
