Bhubaneswar: With the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) ambitious plan to set up a water aerodrome in Chilika Lake, the SpiceJet airlines has proposed to start its sea plane operation in three routes of the state.
Advsior to chairman of SpiceJet Limited Shantanu Kalita has submitted its proposal to Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi in this regard recently and the General Administration department has asked the tourism director to coordinate with the airlines authorities and AAI to explore the possibility of introduction of sea plane in the state.
The SpiceJet has proposed to start sea plane operation in three routes which will be feasible in terms of commercial and tourism importance. The routes are Bhubaneswar to Puri via Chilika Lake, Bhubaneswar to Chandipur via Bhitarkanika National Park and Bhubaneswar to Hirakud dam.
“It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that, we at SpiceJet Ltd are considering the possibility of rolling out ‘sea plane’ operation in Odisha. We are already charting out a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on our own to assess the feasibilities, infrastructure development, capacity building and policy-level implementation to explore the potential of introducing ‘Sea Plane’ operations in India, with special focus given to the State of Odisha,” Kalita wrote to Padhi.
Kalita said his company is open for revision, discussion and feasibility of routes based on local requirement, profitability and tourism potential in the region.
A multi-disciplinary team led by Sangeeta Mahay, General Manager (Arch) of the AAI has conducted a pre-feasibility study for water aerodrome operations in Chilika Lake June 14 and 15 last.
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