It’s a travel agency that thousands of Indian tourists swear by. For almost a generation of outbound tourists in Western India, exotically named packaged tours like European Discovery and Dazzling Dubai were the first introduction to foreign travel. Holding their hand through the rough and tumble of the experience were familiar tour guides and Indian cooks dishing out vegetarian food from a travel agency called Shree Raj Travels and Tours, or more simply Raj Travels. The company which started three decades ago by Lalit Sheth from a small tour operator, offering trips to Kashmir, now has a national presence with several business streams. Raj travels is best known for its outbound tours, comprising 85% of its business.

The company’s latest initiative is the Raj National Express, a Volvo bus service operating in 39 cities countrywide. The buses offer fast and comfortable service on metro and non-metro routes all over the country. The transportation business will gradually form a much higher chunk as operations increase, says Mr Sheth. The company operates 51 buses with hubs in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore and Chennai.

President Bush announced several steps Thursday aimed at easing air travel congestion for the millions of holiday travelers who will head into the increasingly unfriendly skies next week, including the use of a “Thanksgiving express lane” for commercial airlines.It’s kind of a mess up there and at the airports, Bush said in a White House statement.”Airports are very crowded, travelers are being stranded and flights are delayed, sometimes with a full load of passengers sitting on the runway for hours,” Bush said after meeting with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and acting Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bobby Sturgell.Bush’s moves include:Freeing up military airspace along the East Coast for use by commercial flights during the five-day Thanksgiving weekend and possibly at Christmas.

Declaring a moratorium on nonessential FAA projects during the holidays to allow agency personnel and equipment to concentrate on alleviating delays.Encouraging airlines to add staff, seats and planes to relieve holiday congestion. Bush said airlines have agreed to take the steps, including bringing in more ticket kiosks and rolling staircases.Bush also said the FAA will use its Web site to offer updates on flight delays.”We are determined not to let airline delays turn holiday cheer into runway gloom,” Peters said.The amount of airspace for planes flying in and out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport won’t change, but holiday travelers with East Coast destinations could benefit from the increased airspace there, said Roland Herwig, spokesman for the FAA Southwest Region.Other elements of the plan and promised cooperation from the airline industry are not aimed at a specific region but are intended to improve flights for everyone, Herwig said. “It should affect Austin in an increased service to the traveling public.”