Seaplane services on the anvil in Andhra Pradesh


VISAKHAPATNAM: The Andhra Pradesh tourism department is in talks with Mumbai-based Maritime Energy Heli Air Services Private Limited (Mehair) to launch seaplane services from Vizag and Vijayawada next year to give the tourism sector a boost.

"Mehair has given a proposal for offering amphibian seaplane service in AP. The operations will be based out of Vizag and Vijayawada. They already have operations in Maharashtra and have an interest in AP also," a senior AP tourism official said.

According to tourism department sources, Mehair has been given in-principle approval for the project in AP, but discussions are underway to sort out the issue of minimum guaranteed seats per flight once the operations takes off. "The only issue is that Mehair wanted a minimum guarantee on seats, which we didn't agree to. There was no such agreement in Maharashtra when they gave consent for the proposal. So we have told them that the same terms that were given to Maharashtra are acceptable to AP," the official added.



According to sources, the plan is to introduce a nine-seater amphibian aircraft. As per the proposal, the flight will operate for 45 minutes each and there will be around four flights per day.

"The fares are tentatively pegged at around Rs 3,000 per head per flight," said an official.

According to Mehair's website, the company launched seaplane services in January 2011 in India by introducing small aircraft, which can operate from runways and water-bodies within the course of the same flight. The company's fleet includes a Cessna-208 Amphibian aircraft with a seating capacity of nine passengers and Cessna-206 Amphibian aircraft with a seating capacity of four passengers. The company operated in Andaman and Nicobar Islands for three years for the benefit of tourists as well as the administration, connecting various island destinations with the capital city of Port Blair, the website added.

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