New Delhi: Indian airline carrier, SpiceJet is in talks with Japan's Setouchi Holdings to buy 100 amphibious Kodiak planes that have the ability to land on water, gravel or even open fields.
Valued at $400 million, the deal is an effort to reach areas in India, which were previously untapped in terms of air travel, reports Bloomberg.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the UDAN scheme with an eye to boost air travel between smaller cities by making flights far more affordable for "tier 2" and smaller towns.
"I want to see people who wear hawai chappal (flip flops) in a hawai jahaz (airplane)," the PM had said.
Under the scheme, air fares on routes between towns and cities currently poorly connected will be capped at 2,500 rupees for every 500 km of travel.
Government funding and a small levy on existing routes will help pay for the developments.
“Airports are in short supply in India,” SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh told Bloomberg. “Lots of the growth in India is happening in small markets, but those small markets have little or no connectivity. So we are looking for a solution where we can get flights to places where no airports exist.”
SpiceJet's data showed that about 97 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people have never been on an airplane.
The Kodiak aircraft, which can seat around 10 to 14 people, is capable of taking off or landing on a 300-meter stri of water or land, and has a range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles.)
Meanwhile, India's aviation regulator is studying whether to allow such planes into a commercial fleet and are reviewing the list of the proposed landing site, which is around 20.
Comments
0 comment