NEW DELHI: India on Monday for the first time saw a turboprop aircraft of a non-operational airline getting converted to a seaplane by getting floats affixed, and operating a test flight. The aircraft, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, conducted a test (maintenance) flight in Uttarakhand to and from the Ganga Barrage in Haridwar. Once approved, the plane, now belonging to Avani Singh-led SkyHop Aviation, will operate in Andaman and Nicobar once the airline gets its license from the DGCA.The aircraft belonged to the erstwhile Fly Big airline, which had stopped flying some time back. After this Budget’s push to seaplane service, Union aviation secretary Samir Sinha asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to certify the change of this aircraft to a seaplane by getting floats affixed. Accordingly, after the aircraft was modified in India by getting floats here, the DGCA issued the certificate of airworthiness to the aircraft, and it approved its operating procedure.The plane had its first test flight in Uttarakhand — not at Tehri dam as originally planned but from Ganga Barrage — on Monday. If all goes as planned, it will soon be flying in Andaman. The government is keen to have seaplane services in India in a big way.This is the first time that an aircraft converted/modified in India as a seaplane took to the skies. In the past, seaplanes came to India as seaplanes and then flew here with a mixed record of continuing operations on a sustained basis.In this Budget, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said: “To enhance last-mile and remote connectivity, and promote tourism, I propose to give incentives to indigenise manufacturing of seaplanes. A seaplane viability gap funding scheme will also be introduced to provide support for operations.” The recently revised UDAN scheme also plans to have more seaplane services.SkyHop Aviation of Avani Singh, daughter of SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh, could be among the first to restart seaplane service in the country. It plans to use three of the four De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft of the erstwhile Fly Big airline. De Havilland has floats for these amphibious aircraft so that they can take off and land in water. The remaining two are expected to get floats within two months.SpiceJet had briefly started seaplane service in Gujarat some years ago, but could not sustain it. This time, officials expect things to be different with the renewed government focus on this service.
