Govt plans seaplane service on Yamuna riverfront

he government has planned to connect places like - Delhi - Tehri; Delhi - Srinagar (Uttarakhand), Mumbai- Shirdi; Mumbai - Lonavala; Surat - Dwaraka; Surat - Mandvi, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshwadeep to adjoining islands.

New Delhi: After the launch of maiden seaplane services between the Statute of Unity and Sabarmati riverfront in Gujarat, the government has invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) from airlines with Sagarmala Seaplane Services (SSPS).

The government has planned to connect places like - Delhi - Tehri; Delhi - Srinagar (Uttarakhand), Mumbai- Shirdi; Mumbai - Lonavala; Surat - Dwaraka; Surat - Mandvi, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshwadeep to adjoining islands.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has sought response from interested operators by January 22 for forming a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL) to undertake joint development and operation of "Sagarmala Seaplane Services (SSPS)" in India.

"The SPV will be involved in the development and operation of requisite landside and waterside infrastructure (such as floating jetties, seaplane parking space and facility for maintenance of seaplanes, waiting room, security, safety equipment etc.) and procurement/lease and operation of seaplanes," the EOI document stated.

As per the government's route plan, the seaplanes will fly from Delhi to Tehri, Srinagar (Uttarakhand) and Chandigarh, Srinagar (Uttarakhand) to Kedarnath/Badrinath, Chandigarh to Dalhousie and other tourist places of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

From Mumbai, the passengers can fly to Shirdi, Ganpatipule, Lonavala and other tourist places. Surat will have connectivity to Dwarka, Mandvi and Kandla.

Officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways had held an inter-ministerial meeting in the third week of December to strategize a plan for seaplane infrastructure in the country.

Last week, Ministry of Civil Aviation Joint Secretary PS Kharola and Joint Secretary Usha Padhee also held meeting with Gujarat officials, Inland Waterways Authority of India and Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited at Ahmedabad regarding smooth operations of seaplanes.

Notably, the seaplanes operations in Gujarat were temporarily suspended in November due to mandatory aircraft maintenance and the airline started its operations again from December 27, 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has on October 31 inaugurated the airline's seaplane service between the Statute of Unity in Gujarat's Narmada district and Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad.

Currently, SpiceJet has secured 18 seaplane routes under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), which will be operated by its subsidiary Spice Shuttle.

In December 2020, SpiceJet had expressed its inability to use seaplanes for Andaman and Nicobar routes and requested the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to set up the infrastructure for water-to-water flight operations.