Gujarat seaplane services: Bookings open today; services to resume soon

Ahmedabad: SpiceJet on Saturday said that it has decided to restart its seaplane flight services between the Statue of Unity near Kevadiya in Gujarat's Narmada district and the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad from December 27. "Bookings of the seaplane service for the passengers will open from December 20, 2020,"SpiceJet said.

In its statement, the airline said: "SpiceShuttle, the fully-owned subsidiary of SpiceJet, will resume its seaplane operations between Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Riverfront and Kevadia's Statue of Unity from December 27, 2020 with two daily flights on the route."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on October 31 inaugurated the airline's seaplane service between the two destinations. However, the airline suspended the service after a few days.

The seaplane service in Ahmedabad is operated by SpiceJet's subsidiary Spice Shuttle under the UDAN scheme.

The 19-seater plane covers a distance of around 200 km in 40 minutes, operating the shuttle service between Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad and the Statue of Unity at Kevadiya. SpiceJet's subsidiary Spice Shuttle operates two daily seaplane flights between Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad and the Statue of Unity at Kevadiya in the state.

Seaplanes are typically fixed-wing aircraft with a much fewer number of seats and can take off from, and land on, water. They have been in use since 19th century.