New Delhi, Dec 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday flew by a seaplane from the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad to Dharoi in Mehsana district and offered prayer at Ambaji temple on the last day of the election campaign in Gujarat. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it was “the first-ever flight by a seaplane in the country”, however, several seaplane services were launched in the past as well.
In 2010, then Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel launched the first seaplane service in the country at the Juhu aerodrome and named it ‘Jal Hans’. Incidentally, Patel, three days ago, recalled how India’s ‘first ever’ seaplane was launched during his tenure. “India’s first seaplane named ‘Jal Hans’ was first launched in 2010 during my tenure as Civil Aviation Minister which greatly facilitated connectivity & tourism in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands,” he tweeted.
India’s first seaplane named ‘Jal Hans’ was first launched in 2010 during my tenure as Civil Aviation Minister which greatly facilitated connectivity & tourism in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.#seaplane pic.twitter.com/ZQYtpfa82k
— Praful Patel (@praful_patel) December 9, 2017
In Kerala, a commercial seaplane service was launched by Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Limited on 2 June 2013 at Kollam with the inaugural flight being operated by Kairali Aviation. It was to be officially launched for tourists in August 2013. However, the service was later suspended following the protest the local fishing community. The Kerala seaplane service was touted as the first such service in mainland India, and the second in India after ‘Jal Hans’.
A seaplane service was also launched in Maharashtra in 2014 to connect Mumbai to tourist destinations in the Western Ghats. The motive was to provide an alternative route to four or five hour long drives on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. However, the service was suspended as there were hardly some fliers.
Besides, an article on PM Narendra Modi’s official narendramodi.in website claimed the Prime Minister was the first passenger to fly in a seaplane. (The content of the website was later changed). However, Union Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari, on December 9, flew in a seaplane during the trial run of the craft. The trial was conducted by SpiceJet, a private low-cost carrier, in association with Japan’s Setouchi Holdings at Mumbai’s Girgaum Chowpatty.
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