Over Rs 13.15 crore have been spent on the Ahmedabad-Kevadiya seaplane service, which is currently non-operational, the Gujarat government informed the Legislative Assembly Thursday.
High operating costs and difficulties in maintaining a foreign-registered aircraft led to the suspension of seaplane services in Gujarat on April 10, 2021, stated the government in response to questions asked during Question Hour.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2020 launched the services, touted as “the country’s first seaplane services”. Spice Shuttle, a 100 per cent subsidiary of SpiceJet, used to operate the sea-plane service between Ahmedabad and Kevadiya. The aircraft used was taken on a wet-leave from Maldives and between October 2020 and April 2021, the services were disrupted a few times due to aircraft maintainance issues.
