After suspension of flights last year, Seaplane service to restart as bids open

NEW DELHI: After failing to sustain seaplane service, the Gujarat government is likely to restart the service in the coming months. According to officials from the state aviation department, Maritime Energy Heli Air Services Pvt Ltd (MEHAIR) won the bids on Tuesday and is likely to start operations on the Ahmedabad- Kevadia route in the next four months. Officials close to the development also said that a nine-seater Cessna aircraft will be dry leased to operate the route.

Speaking to HT, Hareet Shukla, aviation secretary, Gujarat said, “We will approach the Gujarat government to take financial approval first, we will go ahead after it is approved by them.” Asked if the government was aiming to commence operations by June, Shukla said, “I don’t know about the exact timeline. We will try to do it (recommence operations) as soon as possible but many approvals are needed from regulatory bodies, hence restarting the seaplane operations is subject to the permissions.”

India’s first seaplane service began on October 31, marking the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. The first flight took off from Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity in Kevadia Colony in the Narmada district on October 31, 2020 but the seaplane flights were suspended early 2021, just ahead of the second wave of Covid-19.

The 15-seater Twin Otter 300 seaplane was flown back to the Maldives for maintenance in February last year. Before that, it flew to the Maldives in December as well to undergo statutory checks. SpiceShuttle, a subsidiary of aviation player SpiceJet, operated the route. The Twin Otter 300 seaplane could accommodate up to 19 people including the crew.

Officials from Ahmedabad claimed that the government aims to restart seaplane operations soon. “The flights may begin from June,” an official said.

“A nine-seater Cessna amphibian aircraft will be used to operate the route. Work for resumption of seaplane service is in process,” said an official from the state civil aviation department. “Aerotrans Services Pvt. Ltd, Ventura AirConnect Ltd and Maritime Energy Heli Airservices Pvt Ltd (MEHAIR) had put in their bids. They were opened on Tuesday and MEHAIR was declared to be the winner,” he added

“The letter of intent is yet to be awarded,” the official added

With an aim to provide faster and hassle-free travel options in the long, treacherous and hilly regions of the country, the union government announced seaplane routes under the regional connectivity scheme (RCS)- Udey Desh ka Aam Naagarik (UDAN) scheme.

According to ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) and the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways, at least 28 seaplane routes have been awarded until December last year, under UDAN. 14 water aerodromes based in Gujarat, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep are at various stages of development.