Aerial Connectivity by Seaplanes

Early this decade, while delivering his address in a seminar on ‘Operations of Seaplanes in India’, the then Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Nasim Zaidi, said: “With India having a long coastline, there is a need for concerted efforts to promote sea plane operations. Such operations are significant for the economy of Andaman and Nicobar as well as the Lakshadweep Islands. Apart from sectors in the civil aviation industry such as general aviation or helicopter operations, there is scope of phenomenal growth of seaplane operations in India.”

The seminar was organised by Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, which jointly with Andaman and Nicobar Government, established the country’s first commercial seaplane service company to provide connectivity amongst the islands in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. Appropriately called Jal Hans, its inaugural flight from Port Blair to Havelock Island by a nineseat Cessna 208A amphibious aircraft took place on January 24, 2011, and was inaugurated by Lt General Bhopinder Singh, the then Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Jal Hans was granted exclusive rights to operate commercial seaplane service in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for five years. The company plans to launch commercial operations in the Lakshadweep Islands, backwaters of Kerala, in the Sunderbans in West Bengal and in Puri.

The assessment by the MoCA is that by the end of this decade, there would be a demand for over 100 seaplanes in India given the fact that India has a coastline of over 7,500 km hosting a number of major cities. Also, there are several major rivers, waterways and innumerable natural or man-made lakes that can facilitate seaplane operations across the country without the humongous investments required to build and maintain airports with concrete runways. Seaplane services will also help reduce congestion on normal road, rail and air transportation within the country. This assessment would be welcome by global manufacturers of seaplanes such as Dornier, Vikings and Russian BE 200 jets.

As per the Secretary of MoCA, a separate department has been created to oversee this segment of civil aviation industry and to deal with matters related to infrastructure development, air safety, security and regulatory issues. The government is also considering raising the limit of foreign direct investment in this segment of the industry to 100 per cent.

Following Jal Hans, the Kerala Government launched a commercial seaplane service on June 2, 2013, at Kollam with the inaugural flight being operated by Kairali Aviation. This was to be the first such service in mainland India and the second after Jal Hans. Unfortunately this initiative appears to have got mired in controversy on account of objections by two organisations of traditional fishermen with powerful political backing who claimed that the seaplane service was a threat to their livelihood as also to the marine ecology.

As the Kerala Government was not able to break the deadlock, on account of the burden of mounting losses and the uncertainty of restarting the service, Kairali Aviation has returned the aircraft to the lessor. However, in June this year, the Kerala Government has given the go ahead to the Kerala Tourism to launch seaplane services to the backwater tourist destinations to boost the tourism industry. Destinations identified for seaplane services by the tourism department include Kollam, Alappuzha, Bekal (Kasargod) Bolgatty (in Kochi) Wayanad and Munnar. Seaplane operations by Wings Aviation, a private company, are expected to commence soon.

Another state to make some headway in commercial seaplane service is Maharashtra where a private company Maritime Energy Heli Air Services (MEHAIR) has joined hands with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC).The first seaplane service on mainland India was launched in August 2014 by MTDC with an aircraft taking off from Juhu and touching down on the waters of the Pawana Dam in Lonavla near Pune. The company has plans to extend the service to other water bodies in the state with tourism potential but lacking air connectivity. More recently, despite impediments created by environmentalists, MEHAIR commenced operations between Nashik and Pune on July 12, 2015, with a Cessna 208A.

Inspired by Maharashtra, in November 2014, the Gujarat Government issued the letter of intent to MEHAIR to start seaplane services in the state. Gujarat has also inked a pact with MEHAIR to set up the country’s first MRO facility for seaplanes at the Bhadar Dam in the state. Despite the innumerable and frustrating impediments, commercial seaplane services are finally becoming a reality in the Indian civil aviation industry.