A week on, the country’s only seaplane that had flown to Maldives on February 3 is yet to return to Ahmedabad. The operating airline, SpiceJet, had last week said the seaplane was being flown there for “scheduled maintenance” for three days. However, the seaplane continues to remain in Maldives with no clarity on its return flight to India.
While SpiceJet did not comment on its return despite repeated attempts, an official from the ministry of civil aviation who is in know of the matter said, “The seaplane is yet to fly back to India. It should be back soon.”
For the second time in three months since its launch, the country’s sole seaplane operating between Kevadia to the Sabarmati riverfront (Ahmedabad) was flown back to Maldives on February 3.
The airline spokesperson had, on February 3, said the aircraft operations would be suspended for three days starting Wednesday (February 3) as the aircraft was going to Maldives for scheduled maintenance. “The aircraft will return on February 5 and operations will resume on February 6, 2021. While a facility for day-to-day maintenance has been set up in India, one for larger maintenance is in the works,” the spokesperson had stated.
The 15-seater Twin Otter 300 seaplane is the property of a Maldivian company. The seaplane services, inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31 (birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel) to boost tourism to the Statue of Unity, were shut down within a month and could restart operations only on December 30.
Last month, HT had reported that the seaplane was unable to attract passengers even after recommencing operations. According to sources, it is flying with around 50% capacity. However, the airline maintained that flights to Kevadia are clocking an average load of over 90%.
The first seaplane to operate under the government’s Udey Desh ka Aam Naagrik (Udan) project is being operated by Spice Shuttle, a fully-owned subsidiary of SpiceJet, which wet-leased the seaplane from Maldives Island Aviation Services (MIAS). MIAS is owned by the government of Maldives, making both the aircraft and its crew the property of a foreign entity.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet announced the launch of 24 new domestic flights on Thursday, and will be the first and only airline to connect Ajmer with Mumbai and Ahmedabad with Amritsar to enhance connectivity between metro and non-metro cities. While seasonal flights will operate from February 12 to March 13, all other flights will commence operations effective from February 19 and 20.
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