The first seaplane service in India will commence from Gujarat on October 31 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off the first of the five seaplane services connecting Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity in Kevadia in Narmada district.
The first seaplane project is part of a directive of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which had asked the governments of Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Andaman and Nicobar to propose potential locations for setting up water aerodromes to boost the tourism sector.
Construction of the terminals is almost over and it has all the modern facilities. The proposed Terminal in is spread over 0.51 acres in the premises of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, located in Panchmuli lake (Dyke 3) of the Sardar Sarovar Damar Limdi village. It is situated about 200 km from Ahmedabad, 150 km from Surat and 90 km from Vadodara. Reports said that the site for the terminal was finalised as its dimensions suited the requirements of landing the seaplane.
Spice Jet, which is said to have signed a contract with a French company that is manufacturing the seaplanes, will use a 19-seater plane and carry 14 passengers. Reports said that four flights will take off every day between Ahmedabad and Kevadia on each side. The ticket price per person is about Rs 4,800. The journey by Seaplane will be about one hour. The Terminal Building will be equipped with the provision of all modern amenities, including two check-in counters, one ticketing, facilitation and concessionaires counters on the land side.
SEAPLANE
A fixed-winged aeroplane designed for taking off and landing on water
It has the speed of an aeroplane with the utility of a boat.
Flying boats or called hull seaplanes and floatplanes are the two main types of seaplane.
The United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Philippines, Canada, Finland, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Italy, Maldives, Hongkong and United Arab Emirates now have seaplanes.
