The dream of landing seaplanes on the Brahmaputra in Guwahati is finally being made a reality with the Centre’s green signal to construct aerodromes at two destinations in the northeast so far – one at Guwahati and other at Umiam Lake, Meghalaya.
According to officials at the Water Resource Department, an aerodrome will be coming up at the Kharguli near the High Court Guest House.
The aero taxi service will be operated by the Spicejet and will cover a water runway of around two kilometres.
In the first phase, a Detailed Project Report (DRP) worth Rs 11 crores approximately has already been made and technical approval has been taken from the Water Resource Department, Central Water Commission and Assam Engineering College’s Civil Branch for the feasibility and viability.
To all appearances, land at the actual site has been developed with markings of the proposed project.
Earlier, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Regional Executive Director Sanjeev Jindal, speaking to media, said that at the end of 2020 or by early 2021, the water aerodrome or seaplane services would be launched on Brahmaputra River and Umrangso reservoir. The three locations selected for the seaplanes include Guwahati, Umrangso (in Dima Hasao district) and the famous Kaziranga National Park.
"Three jetties would be built at three locations at a cost of Rs 50 crores. Some other small works have to be done before launching the new ferrying mode," he added.
In the northeast, this seaplane service will be the latest initiative by the government in the transport sector. For thousands of tourists who visit the state every year it is good news. For, apart from saving time by avoiding the long road trips they can now look forward to seaplane journey with a panoramic view of the mighty Brahmaputra from the top and save time in the process.
G Plus tried to take stock of the situation and tried to follow up with the officials at the Smart City Project but they refused to comment on the development.
The feasibility aspect
Tourism expert and former administrator, Subhash Das, said that a business model or a special purpose vehicle must be formed to run the seaplanes and water aerodrome operations.
"It will have to be decided whether the operations would be a venture between the state government and the AAI, or handled by the authorities alone. Profit making public sector organisations and corporate houses could be involved to run the new water based transport," said Das, who has visited around 20 countries on his own and written books on tourism.
A seaplane is a fixed-winged aeroplane designed to take off and land on water and includes amphibious aircraft operating as seaplanes.
According to the civil aviation ministry, the directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) has allowed flight operations through seaplanes from water aerodromes. An area of open water that can be used by seaplanes or amphibious planes for landing and take-off is called a water aerodrome. They might have a connected terminal building on land where the pilot can choose to dock the aircraft like a ship.
The DGCA says with the growth of the aviation industry, the country is expected to witness an increase in area of aircraft operations, including seaplanes, particularly due to regional connectivity scheme (RCS). This will also require operation of seaplanes from coastal/river/canal as well as terrestrial water bodies.
In addition to aviation legislation, a seaplane in contact with water is subject to maritime regulations including international regulations for the prevention of collision at sea and local bylaws.
According to aviation regulations, an aerodrome cannot be used for scheduled air transport services, among others, unless there is a licence.
According to the DGCA, an entity seeking to set up a water aerodrome has to take approvals from various authorities, including the ministries of defence, home, environment and forests and shipping.
According to the ministry of civil aviation, seaplanes’ operations with the following types shall be allowed under the scheme from select water aerodromes: category 1A — seaplanes with capacity of nine seats and category 1 — seaplane with capacity of nine to 20 seats.
The civil aviation ministry has included Calcutta-Shillong-Calcutta and Guwahati-Lilabari-Guwahati, Guwahati-Tezpur-Guwahati and Guwahati-Pasighat-Guwahati routes in the third round of UDAN scheme.
It said requests from state governments, including those in the northeastern region, would be considered to cover specific pre-determined routes under the special round of UDAN scheme which will help in connecting remote areas which have not been connected yet.
Meanwhile, in a bid to boost inclusive national economic development and promote tourism on the mighty banks of Brahmaputra, Guwahati Smart City Limited has taken up the humongous task of developing the river banks in a phased manner. The proposed project will start from the New Deputy Commissioner’s Bungalow till Nilachal Hills in Kamakhaya.
Also to boost tourism and connectivity, three riverfronts were selected in Assam to introduce the water based ferry for the first time in India.
It is to be mentioned that the riverfront of the Machkhowa area (Lachit Ghat) has already been developed and has become a popular point for many walkers and joggers of the area.
In Kerala also, a Cessna 206 H six-seater operated by Kairali Aviation became the first aircraft to start operations in the state. The idea behind this is to enable make tourists visiting the state to hop on to amphibious aircraft for the final leg of their journey to renowned backwater destinations.
