SpiceJet mulling to add Kevadiya-Surat seaplane route

Overwhelmed by the response to the Ahmedabad-Statue of Unity seaplane service, SpiceJet on Saturday mentioned it plans to start out an identical service connecting Surat in south Gujarat with the 182-meter tall statue devoted to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel close to Kevadiya.

Other routes and locations that are into account for the seaplane service are Port Blair to Havelock, Delhi to Haridwar, Delhi to Rishikesh and Naini lake, Udaipur, Dal lake, Leh and backwaters in Kerala, Spicejet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh mentioned.

“We only need water bodies like rivers and lakes to start such service. We are now planning to start seaplane service between Surat and Kevadiya. We are in touch with officials for the same and studying their suggestions,” Singh advised reporters at Kevadiya after the service was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Prime Minister boarded the 18-seater airplane from a pond close to Sardar Sarovar Dam and landed at Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad on Saturday afternoon after overlaying the space in about 40 minutes. It takes round four hours by street to succeed in Kevadiya from Ahmedabad by street. Floating concrete jetties made by Marinetek India have been put in on the riverfront and at pond-Three close to the dam to allow passengers to board and alight from the airplane.

The service is operated by SpiceJet’s fully-owned subsidiary, Spice Shuttle. As of now, every day two flights shall be operated on the Ahmedabad-Kevadiya route from November 1, Singh advised reporters at Ahmedabad.

The all-inclusive one-way fares will start from Rs 1,500 and go as much as Rs 5,000 below the UDAN scheme.

“We have received around 3,000 booking requests in two days. Majority of them belong to the Ahmedabad region. We will start giving them tickets from tomorrow when commercial flight would commence,” mentioned Singh, including that his firm is planning to obtain two extra such aircrafts to reinforce seaplane operations within the nation.