UDAN: seaplanes to fly on 18 air routes

Seaplanes will fly on 18 air routes among the 235 routes awarded under the government’s ambitious regional connectivity scheme that will also connect 16 unserved airports and six water aerodromes. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said as many as 69.30 lakh seats would be added on an annual basis across the 235 routes. More than 1 lakh seats would be through seaplanes.

Besides, the civil aviation ministry announced that SpiceJet would operate international flights under UDAN from Guwahati to Dhaka and Bangkok. SpiceJet, IndiGo, Jet Airways, Air India subsidiary Airline Allied Services Ltd or Alliance Air, and Turbo Aviation are among the operators that have bagged the routes in the third round. Other operators that have been awarded routes are Andaman Airways Pvt Ltd, Aviation Connectivity and Infrastructure Developers Pvt Ltd, Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Heritage Aviation, Turbo Megha Airways Pvt Ltd and Zexus Air Services Pvt Ltd.

Six water aerodromes would be connected with UDAN flights. They are at Guwahati River Front and Umrangso Reservoir (Assam), Nagarjuna Sagar (Telangana), Sabarmati River Front, Shatrunjay Dam, and Statue of Unity (Gujarat). A ministry official said seaplanes would operate on 18 routes. Choubey said the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) requirements for the total seats — 69.30 lakh — under the latest round are estimated to be around Rs 1,167 crore.