Seaplane, Set To Fly During Onam

Seaplane service, which was halted after a big launch, is again set to fly back into the tourism map of Kerala. From September, the amphibian crafts are expected to fly in the State’s air space and land at airports as well as water bodies. Planning is on to restart the flights during Onam, which is the commencement of the festival season when numerous tourists visit Kerala.

Soon the hibernation will be complete, a senior official of Tourism Department declared to The Hindu.

The hostility against the scheme by the fishermen would be dealt in a logical way with an expert committee who are being appointed to revise the issue. The arrangement of the panel had been decided earlier, and a government order would be issued soon. He said that an acknowledgement form the minister in charge of Fisheries and Tourism was being awaited.

The panel will study the effect of the seaplane operations on the livelihood of the fishermen. The government is trying to pacify the fears of the fishermen through the research on scientific study.

One of the members of the panel, Mr. Padmakumar said that he had not yet received any message from the government’s side. On the other hand, trade union leader, T.J. Anjalose , who had voiced distress over the possible loss of livelihood of fishermen, said the fishermen remained hesitant against the scheme.

Meanwhile, Kerala Seaplane Services, managed by Wings Aviation, a group based in Hyderabad, has attained two seaplanes for the procedure in Kerala. These two aircrafts were parked in Bangalore and would be brought to Kerala in coming weeks, the company’s Managing Director, Umesh Kamath said.

 

These 10 seater flights of the company are being planned for the Kochi-Bekal route, apart from Kochi-Alappuzha-Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram Route. As for the programmes planned in the second phase of the course, it would feature Munnar, Kumarakom, Wayanad and other places. 

He said that the company would also run a six seater for inter-airport transfers. According to him, the road shows held in Gujarat and Punjab got positive response. Apart from Kairali Aviation, which launched the initial seaplane flight, at least two other promoters are planning to run seaplane flights in Kerala.