The government is planning to start seaplane services on numerous routes after the launch of the country's maiden seaplane service between the Statue of Unity near Kevadiya and Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday.
The proposed routes include Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Udaipur, Delhi-Jodhpur and Delhi-Badrinath among others, the ports, shipping and waterways minister told reporters here.
The minister said the proposed services would also cover various islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep, Guwahati Riverfront and Umranso Reservoir in Assam, Yamuna Riverfront / Delhi (as hub) to Ayodhaya, Tehri, Srinagar (Uttrakhand), Chandigarh and many other tourist places. These will be developed through collaboration between the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, he said.
Two to three companies as well as SpiceJet have expressed interest in undertaking seaplane services on various routes proposed by the government. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways had, in January, sought expression of interest from airlines for seaplane services on select routes on a commercial basis. The last date for submission of expressions of interest was Jan 22.
"A coordination committee has been formed between the shipping ministry and the aviation ministry. The infrastructure will be set up by the shipping ministry, while the operations of the planes under the UDAN scheme will be the responsibility of the aviation ministry,". The government had also received interest from entities, which have earlier said they would be open to manufacturing seaplanes in the country, Mandaviya said.
No separate budget has been provided as of now for this initiative, as per the ministry, and the objective of the EoI is to assess the interest of the airline operators for joint development and operation of the seaplane services with SDCL.
Air travel to become costly as Centre hikes caps on domestic fares by up to 30 pc
Try to make Hyderabad a world-class city: KCr
60 to 70 per cent of bikers are accident victims: Cyberabad Traffic DCP
