SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International) has wet-leased a DHC-6-300 amphibian from Maldivian (Q2, Malé) for use in operating India's first-ever scheduled seaplane services, due to launch on October 31, 2020.
8Q-ISC (msn 321) was ferried from Malé via Kulhudhuffushi, Kochi International, and Goa Dabolim to Kevadia, the site of the Statue of Unity commemorating independence activist Vallabhbhai Patel. It was subsequently used to operate a number of test flights between Kevadia and Ahmedabad, ahead of the planned launch of operations on the same route at the end of October.
SpiceJet initially plans to operate the route up to 4x daily. Kevadia-Ahmedabad flights have been awarded to the carrier under the RCS-UDAN government subsidization programme.
While it is unclear if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the inauguration of scheduled flights on October 31, the launch of seaplane operations has long been his ambition. Modi used to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat, of which Ahmedabad is the largest city, prior to his election to the national premiership.
The Indian government plans to expand the domestic network of seaplane operations with flights to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and to cities with no airports in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand, among others.
For Maldivian, the wet-lease offers a welcome reprieve from the near-total collapse of its domestic market. The airline operates eleven DHC-6-300s, deploying them between islands of the Indian Ocean archipelago. However, demand is largely reliant on international tourists.
In the past, SpiceJet touted the possibility of adding in-house seaplanes and mulled cooperation with Setouchi Holdings, a Japanese holding which owns Quest Aircraft (Sandpoint).
