A turbulent journey so far for seaplanes in India

Seaplane were first put to use in Andaman and Nicobar islands in 2010

GN Bureau | December 12, 2017


#Sabarmati   #Gujarat Polls   #Narendra Modi   #Seaplane   #Seaplanes  


Prime minister Narendra Modi’s seaplane ride in Gujarat is certainly unique, but it is not as historic as it is being made out to be.

Gujarat chief Minister Vijay Rupani said this is for the first time in the history of the country that a sea-plane will land on a water body and that will be the Sabarmati river. "Modi will travel in the plane from here to Dharoi. He will visit Ambaji temple and come back from Dharoi to Sabarmati in the same plane," Economic Times quoted Rupani as saying.

Rupani may have got the facts wrong.

The first seaplane operation began in India in 2010. It was launched in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The tariff was different for islanders and the tourists. It was a convenient way of travel between the islands.

The service was later stopped as it became financially unviable, reported Times of India.

Kerala too tried to have a seaplane service, but it faltered. The state’s first seaplane flight took off from Kollam on June 2, 2013. The commercial operations could not start due to opposition from local fishermen.

Aviation experts have not lost hope of seeing viable seaplane operations.

Spicejet wants to buy 100 amphibian carriers at a cost of $400 million. Livemint reported that the budget carrier has conducted the second phase of the seaplane trials at the Girgaum Chowpatty off Mumbai’s coast.

In the first phase, the trials were conducted in Nagpur and Guwahati.

Comments

 

Other News

AI: Code, Control, Conquer

India today stands at a critical juncture in the area of artificial intelligence. While the country is among the fastest adopters of AI in the world, it remains heavily reliant on technologies developed elsewhere. This paradox, experts warn, cannot persist if India seeks technological sovereignty.

RBI pauses to assess inflation risks, policy transmission

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has begun the new fiscal year with a calibrated pause, keeping the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent in its April Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. The decision, taken unanimously, reflects a shift from aggressive policy action to cautious observation after a signi

New pathways for tourism growth

Traditionally, India’s tourism policy has been based on three main components: the number of visitors, building tourist attractions and providing facilities for tourists. Due to the increase in climate-related issues and environmental destruction that occurred over previous years, policymakers have b

Is the US a superpower anymore?

On April 8, hours after warning that “a whole civilisation will die tonight,” US president Donald Trump, exhibiting his unique style of retreating from high-voltage brinkmanship, announced that he agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. The weekend talks in Islamabad have failed and the futur

Machines communicate, humans connect

There is a moment every event professional knows—the kind that arrives without warning, usually an hour before the curtain rises. Months of meticulous planning are in place. And then comes the call: “We’ll also need a projector. For the slides.”   No email

Why India is entering a ‘stagflation lite’ phase

India’s macroeconomic narrative is quietly shifting—from a rare “Goldilocks” equilibrium of stable growth and contained inflation to a more fragile phase where external shocks are beginning to dominate domestic policy outcomes. The numbers still look reassuring at first glance: GDP


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter