SpiceJet to resume seaplane flights between Statue of Unity, Sabarmati riverfront from Dec 27
Dec 19, 2020
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], December 19 : 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.
In its statement, SpiceJet 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."
"Bookings of the seaplane service for the passengers will open from December 20, 2020," the airline added.
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 and it takes around 40 minutes to cover a distance of around 200 kilometres between the two destinations.
"Since the maintenance facility was still under construction in Ahmedabad, the aircraft had to be sent to SpiceJet's lessor's facility at the Maldives. The seaplane service in Ahmedabad is operated by SpiceJet's subsidiary Spice Shuttle under the UDAN scheme," the airline said.
Captain Ajay Chauhan, the director of Civil Aviation, Gujarat said that few aircraft were gone for maintenance to the Maldives, and are coming back on December 27.
"Seaplane is coming for the First time in India. People are quite excited about this. Within one month, the seaplane has completed 70 trips, about 700-750 passengers have travelled by it. It has been good, this will pick up more in the coming one or two months. This will be a great service in Ahmedabad," he said.
